Rebel Love Song
by CrayCrayTay2
Summary: Paige Bauer lives on the North Side of Riverdale, the epitome of the stereotype of the good girl, and is good friends with Archie, Veronica, Betty, and the rest of the Northsiders. Sweet Pea lives on the South Side of Riverdale, is a part of the South Side Serpents, and he is willing to die for them. What happens when the good girl and the serpent cross paths?
1. part 1 -- sophomore year

**THIS IS A REWRITE OF REBEL LOVE SONG**

 **I ONLY OWN PAIGE BAUER, CHRISTOPHER 'CHRIS' BAUER, VIVIENNE BAUER, ISAAC BAUER, AND EMBER WASHINGTON**

 **AGAIN, THIS IS BASED OFF OF REBEL LOVE SONG BY BLACK VEIL BRIDES**

* * *

' _there is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable'  
_ \- **MARK TWAIN**

* * *

 **STARRING** **:**

 **DOVE CAMERON AS**  
paige bauer

 **JORDAN CONNOR AS**  
sweet pea

 **LEONARDO DICAPRIO AS**  
chris bauer

 **REESE WITHERSPOON AS**  
vivienne bauer

 **DACRE MONTGOMERY AS  
** isaac bauer

 **CHINA ANNE MCCLAIN AS**  
ember washington

 **KJ APA AS**  
archie andrews

 **LILI REINHART AS  
** betty cooper

 **CAMILA MENDES AS  
** veronica lodge

 **COLE SPROUSE AS  
** jughead jones

 **MADELAINE PETSCH AS  
** cheryl blossom

 **ASHLEIGH MURRAY AS**  
josie mccoy

 **CASEY COTT AS  
** kevin keller

 **CHARLES MELTON AS**  
reggie mantle

 **VANESSA MORGAN AS**  
toni topaz

 **JORDAN CALLOWAY AS**  
chuck clayton

 **ROB RACO AS**  
joaquin desantos

 **DREW RAY TANNER AS**  
fangs fogarty

* * *

 **STORY MIXTAPE :**

 **side a**

i. rebel love song by black veil brides  
ii. paradise by coldplay  
iii. into you by ariana grande  
iv. shallow by bradley cooper & lady gaga  
v. youngblood by 5 seconds of summer

 **side b**

i. elevate by papa roach  
ii. wicked games by chris izaak  
iii. papa don't preach by madonna  
iv. mad love by the pretty reckless  
v. waiting for a girl like you by foreigner


	2. Prologue: The Bauer Family

Within the small town of Riverdale are families; either they are wholesome and innocent or they are manipulative and deceiving. The only family who fits in their own category is the Bauer family.

Christopher and Vivienne are Riverdale's very own Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, with Chris coming from the South Side and was Riverdale's resident bad boy, who was prideful of the fact that he was a South Side Serpent. Meanwhile Vivienne hailed from the North Side from a rich family and was apart of the cheerleading team.

Their paths had crossed, accidentally, during Vivienne's shift at Pop's ChockLit Shoppe and they connected. Like Gatsby, the only person that mattered to him was Vivienne and he looked at her like every girl wanted to be looked at.

But eventually, her parents found out.

They tried everything to stop the two's teenage love affair, blackmailing Chris with his criminal records, setting Vivienne up for an arranged marriage, Vivienne's parents tried everything to split the two of them apart.

That all changed in their senior year of high school when Chris cut all ties of his South Side roots and Vivienne cut ties with her rich parents and they moved out all on their own, instead of following the shallow ending within the book that had depicts one character's demise and the true colors of another character.

Everyone believed that they would be running their separate ways, but they had grown to be more successful than her parents could ever imagine, with Chris maintaining a Business degree and Vivienne maintaining a Interior Design degree, starting up their own business together. They succeeded in life and also became fulfilled with happiness when they welcomed their two children.

Isaac, who is the older sibling, is a part of Riverdale High's football team as the wide receiver. Him and his best friend, Jason Blossom, are apart of the popular group that resides in Riverdale High. A year later, they welcomed another addition.

Paige, the younger sibling, is not as sociable as her older brother. Her and her best friend, and the twin to Jason, Cheryl, are polar opposites, with her being the queen bee, who ruled with an iron fist, and her being the quiet artist.

Most of her mind goes to schoolwork, babysitting, art club, or her part-time job at Pop's, so in many ways, there are comparisons between her and Laurie Strode from Halloween.

Chris and Vivienne raised their kids to just be themselves instead of striving to be perfect. But there is a shadow looming over the small town and everything will change.


	3. The River's Edge

**REVIEW TIMEE!1**

 **Sakura Tate: I was a little hesitant on whether or not to continue on with the original fanfic, but I felt that there was no characterization to the main character, and plus it could give me a lot of time to figure out how to not include the whole Josie and Sweet Pea fling without turning my fanfic into an angsty one**

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **Our story is about a town, a small town, and the people who live in the town. From a distance, it presents itself like so many small towns all over the world; safe, decent, innocent. Get closer though, and you start seeing the shadows underneath.**_

 _ **The name of our town is Riverdale.**_

 _ **Our story begins, I guess, with what the Blossom twins did this summer. On the Fourth of July, just after dawn, Jason and Cheryl Blossom drove out to Sweetwater River for an early morning boat ride. The next thing we know happened for sure is that Dilton Doiley, who was leading Riverdale's boy scout troop on a bird watching expedition, came across Cheryl on River's Edge.**_

 _ **Riverdale Police dragged Sweetwater River for Jason's body, but never found it, so a week later, the Blossom family buried an empty casket and Jason's death was ruled as an accident as the story Cheryl told made the rounds; that Cheryl had dropped a glove in the water and Jason reached down to get it, and accidentally tipped and panicked and drowned.**_

 _ **As for us, we were still talking about the July 4th tragedy on the last day of summer vacation when a new mystery rolled in."**_

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

"I'll admit this to you, and to you only. I'm actually kind of nervous to start there tomorrow." Ember Washington, my best friend, admitted to me as we were sitting in my room as we are listening to _Don't Fear The Reaper_ by Blue Oyster Cult.

Today is the last day of summer vacation and after the death of her parents, she is transferring to South Side High, as she is now in the care of her cousin's family. "Em, be honest." I said, turning around to give her a pointed look.

"Okay, I'm excited to get to South Side High to get away from all of the North Side drama." she confessed. "There's the brutally honest best friend I know and love." I said.

"I'm just saying that the North Side has some problems." she said. "Okay, to our credit, the thing that happened to Jason is still fresh in everybody's minds and speaking of which, Cheryl might call me at any moment about school tomorrow." I said to her.

Ember groaned. "Another problem I have with you. You're too nice to Cherry Bombshell." she groaned out. I gave her a pointed glare. Cheryl's just going through a lot.

"Okay, a little too far. I'm sorry." she said. "Thank you." I mouthed to her as I turned back around to see what song to play next on my phone that is connected to a radio.

"I'm serious, though. You're nice to everyone. No wonder why people compare you to Laurie Strode, well, if Laurie didn't have Michael Myers stalking her. Tomorrow is gonna be a rare one." she said and I gave her a confused glance.

"Rare one?" I asked. "It's gonna be the only time where you're not working and you're not babysitting. Plus, maybe it would give you time to spend more time with your fuckboy of a boyfriend." Ember said, talking about my relationship that blossomed over the summer with Reggie Mantle. "Ember!" I exclaimed at her. "What? I'm just stating facts." Ember said, "innocently".

A knock was presented at my door and when I turned around, it was Isaac, my older brother. "Hey, the Barringtons just called. They asked if you are up to watching the kids over the weekend." he said. "Same time, same place." I said with a smile as Isaac closed the door. "See, Laurie." Ember said with a smirk.

Someday, I will understand how I put up with her.

The next day was the first day of school. I got on what I need for school and as I head downstairs, I was hearing my parents talk to my brother.

"This is your Junior year, Isaac. You need to start looking into college applications." my mom told my brother. "Your mother's right, you know. You worked so hard to get where you are in the football team." my dad told him. "I know, dad, but these football scouts are very strict." Isaac said as I felt something rub up against my leg and it turns out to be my Siberian cat, Loki.

I picked him up and made my entrance into the kitchen. "Have any of you fed the cats yet?" I asked, motioning to Loki and the American Shorthair cat, Thor. "So far, only Thor. You know Loki hates my guts, Pay. You're the only person he likes." Isaac said as I rolled my eyes and put some wet food into Loki's food bowl.

As soon as I set Loki down so he could eat, I sat down next to Isaac for breakfast. "Hey mom, dad." I said as he sat down. "Hey, honey." my mom said. "Paige...You grew up to be hardworking like your mother. I don't want you nor Isaac to throw that all away." my dad said. "Dad, don't worry about that. You know you can count on us." I said with a smile.

Because I don't have my driver's license yet, Isaac usually takes me to school. I was over at my locker where I greeted by one of my good friends, Midge Klump.

"Hey, Midge." I said with a smile. "So, how was it?" she asked me, causing me to give her a confused glance. "What are you talking about?" I asked as we started to walk down the hallway. "Don't be naive, Paige. I'm talking about your hot love affair that happened over the summer with Reggie." Midge said.

"Midge, no. Nothing happened over the summer." I told her, partially lying, and that caused her to give me an exasperated expression. Yeah, Reggie may have come over a few times while I was babysitting, but we actually never took our relationship to the next level.

"Come on, Paige. Moose told me that Reggie never stopped talking about his "little Paigey-Bear"." Midge told me. "I thought that you and Moose were fighting." I said to her. "Yeah, well, he told me that _before_ that happened." she told me. "Are you two even going to the back-to-school semi-formal together?" I asked. "I might just not go. I don't even know if it's gonna happen since what happened to Jason." Midge said.

As soon as she said that, I was lifted up into the air and with the laughter, I could identify it as Reggie Mantle. Midge gave me a smirk. "I'll leave you two alone." she said as she was walking away from me.

"Put me down, Reg." I giggled. "I missed you." he said. "You saw me all summer though." I said. "I still missed you." Reggie said as he gave me a peck on the lips as we walk down the hallway together.

* * *

 **3rd POV:**

While Reggie and Paige were talking, Betty Cooper and Kevin Keller were still giving the new student, Veronica Lodge, her tour of Riverdale High. As Veronica was talking to Betty about Archie Andrews, Betty's best friend that Kevin claims to be "end-game", Kevin spots his good friend, Paige Bauer, walking with Reggie, hand-in-hand. He gasped, catching Betty's and Veronica's attention.

"I knew it! She was always a bad liar." Kevin hissed and Betty caught on what he was talking about. "Wait, Reggie Mantle and Paige Bauer? That's a surprise." Betty muttered. "I'm sorry, who is Reggie Mantle and Paige Bauer and are they a problem?" Veronica asked.

"Paige? No, she is a total sweetheart. Reggie, on the other hand…" Betty started, now trailing off. "Is a total fuckboy. But he's still so hot." Kevin said as they see Reggie and Paige go their separate ways. "I guess they're going to the semi-formal together." Veronica said.

"I heard it might be getting cancelled because of what happened to Jason. They're gonna tell us at the assembly." Kevin said. "Who's Jason and what happened to him?" Veronica asked, not knowing about what happened during the Blossom family's tragic summer.

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

I walked into the gymnasium and as soon as I walked in, trying to look for some familiar faces, I spot Midge waving at me, so I walked over and sat down by her. While everyone was piled into the gym, that's when Cheryl began her speech.

"Thank you for that moment of silence." Cheryl started. She peeked over at me and I gave her a thumbs up before she continued with her speech.

"Many of you were lucky enough to know my brother, personally. Each and everyone of you meant the world to Jason. I loved my brother, he was and always will be my soulmate, so I speak with the confidence, only in good half, Jason wouldn't want us to spend the year mourning. Jason would want us to move on with our lives, which is why I asked the school board to not cancel the back-to-school formal." Cheryl continued and as soon as everyone was about to cheer, she spoke up again.

"But rather as to use it as a way to heal, collectively and to celebrate my brother's too short-lived life. Thank you." Cheryl concluded as everyone applauded.

As everyone was now walking to class, I had finally met up with Cheryl. "Oh, my little fairy, I missed you so much." Cheryl said as we shared a hug. "Hey, Cheryl. How're you feeling?" I asked. "JayJay wouldn't want me to live the rest of my life mourning." Cheryl replied back as we now locked pinkies as we walked down the hallway together.

"So, enough about my tragic summer. I heard from Midge that during your Babysitter's Club session, Reggie came over several times." she said. "Only to hang out, Cher. Not to hook up." I told her as we were now outside of the school. Then she spotted the new girl, Veronica Lodge, sitting with Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper and Kevin Keller.

"Hey, isn't that the new girl?" Cheryl asked with a smirk. "Cheryl Blossom, whatever you're thinking on doing, don't you do it." I said, giving her a stern look. "Oh, Paige, when has anything gone wrong." Cheryl said as we are now making our way over towards Archie, Betty, Kevin, and Veronica

Well, over towards Betty, Kevin, and Veronica since Archie has left the group.

"Veronica Lodge. I've heard whisperings. I'm Cheryl Blossom, this is Paige Bauer. May we sit?" Cheryl asked and before any of them could respond, Cheryl was already making her way to sit down next to Betty.

"Betty, would you mind?" Cheryl said as Betty scoots over so Cheryl could sit down and Cheryl pulls me down next to her. "So, what are you three hens gossiping about? Archie's Efron-esque emergence from the chrysalis of puberty?" Cheryl was asking.

"Extracurriculars. Weatherbee wants me to try out for a few." Veronica replied back. "Cheerleading, you must. I'm senior captain of the River Vixens." Cheryl said. "Is cheerleading still a thing?" Kevin asked. "Is being the gay best friend still a thing?" Cheryl asked, snapping at Kevin. "Cheryl." I said, sternly. "Some people say it's retro, I say it's eternal and iconic." Cheryl said, ignoring my firm statement of her name.

"At Spence, I was on top of the Elite's pyramid. I'm in. Betty, you're trying out, too." Veronica said. "Of course, anybody's welcome to try out, but Betty's already got so much on her plate, and being a Vixen is a full-time thing, but open to all." Cheryl said as I was giving her a look that screams 'what the hell are you doing?'.

Cheryl can be extra harsh towards Betty because of the whole Jason-and-Polly scandal.

Cheryl went to stand up from her seat. "Follow us on twitter and we'll do the same. My handle is /cherylbombshell, and the little fairy's handle is /blissfulpaige." she said as she left us alone.

I turn to the three with an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry about her. She can be a little...abrasive at times." I said to them. "Paige, it's fine." Betty said, reassuringly. "I'll see you guys later." I said as I left the three of them alone.

The day went by quickly and now, I was walking towards Isaac's car. Once we got inside of the car, Isaac speaks up. "I don't know what you did, but you got Reggie so whipped." Isaac said. "Shouldn't you be mad at that, like any older brother out there?" I asked him. "I don't care if he goes out with you, that's fine. It's only if he hurts you." he said as he begins to drive away from Riverdale High.

I was getting ready for the back-to-school semi-formal while Lovesong by The Cure was blasting from my radio. My phone had rang and when I looked at who was calling, it was _I Love You, Bitch,_ meaning that Ember was calling me. Her contact for me was _I Ain't Never Gonna Stop Loving You, Bitch._

"Hey, Em." I said into the phone.

" _Hey Tinkerbell. How was Riverdale's Bereaved Red Widow holding up?"_ Ember asked.

"Still being a little abrasive, but holding up strong. How's South Side High treating you?" I asked.

" _Better than I expected."_ she admits.

"Huh, if it's going so well, then maybe I should stop over…" I was about to say, but was cut off by Ember.

" _No. Absolutely not. No offense, Paige, but you look very similar to your mom and if anyone in that school finds out that the daughter of Chris and Vivienne Bauer was there, you would have a target painted on your back."_ Ember said.

"Okay, I was just suggesting that. Anyways, I gotta go. I have to get ready for the semi-formal." I told her.

" _See you later, babe."_ Ember said.

"See ya." I replied back as I hung up and continued to get ready for the semi-formal.

"Paige, are you almost ready?" I heard Isaac ask. "I'm coming! Hold on a moment!" I yelling back downstairs as I did the finishing touches on my makeup. As soon as I was finished with that, I made my way downstairs to meet up with Isaac.

"Remember, I can't stay for long at Thornhill. I have to be at the Barrington's place early." I reminded him. "Don't worry about it." he said as we went over to his car and he drove off.

We made it to school and into the gym. "Wait, who are you meeting up with?" I asked. "I'm meeting up with Ginger." he told me. I had a disgusted look etched on my face when I hear the mention of one of Cheryl's minions.

Don't get me wrong, I love Cheryl, but whenever Ginger and Tina are around, I tend to stray myself away.

"Look, I know you don't like her, and it was enough to get her off my back." he said and I spotted Reggie. "Look, I'll see you later. Found Reggie." I told him as I was walking away from him and towards my boyfriend.

I snuck up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, giving him a little bit of a scare. I laughed at that and he turned around and was less tensed. "I knew I heard that cute little laugh from somewhere." he said as we pecked lips.

"You look beautiful. Like a true fairy herself." he said and that caused me to blush. Then, one of his best friends, Moose Mason, came over by us. "Hey, Little Bauer." he said. "Hey, Moose." I greeted as well as Reggie took out a flask. My eyes widened as I saw the container that is filled with alcohol.

"You wanna swig, babe?" he asked. "No." I answered, almost immediately. He shrugs, not wanting to pressure me and took a swig of that and handed it over to Moose. "Good evening, friends. Are you all having a good time?" I hear Cheryl ask from the stage, and that caused an applause.

"As honorary person and de-facto queen of tonight's semi-formal, it is my great pleasure to introduce this evening's main entertainment. To know them is to be obsessed with them. Though they do perform their own material, tonight, they are going to make an acception and debut a cover of the song my parents claim they were listening to the night Jason and I were conceived. This one's for you, JayJay. I give you Josie and the Pussycats." Cheryl said, introducing Riverdale High's version of Destiny's Child.

"You wanna dance?" Reggie asked me. I nodded as I took his hand and went to the dance floor, I put my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist as we slowly swayed to the music.

"So, what are your plans this weekend?" he asked. "I have to babysit, you know that." I told him. "Maybe I can come over, like I did over the summer." he said with a smirk. I groaned as I hit my face in his chest. "Stop." I groaned out, emitting a chuckle from him.

"It's game time at Chez Blossom, kiddies." Cheryl started. As soon as the semi-formal was over, most of us were at the Blossom family mansion, Thornhill, for Cheryl's after-party. Reggie was already drunk and he laid me across his lap as he was slobbering all over my neck.

"We're going old-school tonight, Seven Minutes In Heaven. Who wants a tryst in the closet of love first? My vote is A for Archie. Anyone care to second bid?" Cheryl asked.

Dear God, what is she doing now?

"Actually…" Archie started as Reggie pulled away from my neck. "Yes, Andrews! Yes!" he said, excitedly, as I was getting some of the saliva off of my neck. "All right, gather around, kids. Let's see who's riding the Ginger Stallion tonight." Cheryl said as she spun the empty bottle of cherry cola.

It landed on the space between Betty and Veronica.

"Oh, no way!" Reggie said, giggling. "It's clearly pointing to the new girl. This should be fun." Cheryl said with a smirk. "Um, I'm not doing this." Veronica said, trying to avoid confrontation. "That's up to you, but if you don't, house rules create that the hostess gets to take your turn." Cheryl said.

Veronica gave Betty an apologetic look before she went into the closet with Archie. A little while later, Betty stood up and left the party. I managed to get out of Reggie's strong grip and followed her.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked. "I'll be fine." she said, softly while wiping her tears. "Want me to walk you home? I gotta leave early, anyways." I said. "That'll be nice." she said. "Great, I just need to tell Isaac and we'll be on our merry way." I told her as I went over towards Isaac.

"Hey, I'm planning on leaving with Betty." I told him. "You want me to drive you two home?" he asked. "No. Have fun." I said as I was about to leave, but then Reggie spoke up. "Babe, stay here with me!" he whined, drunkenly. "And take him home." I said, gesturing to Reggie as I walked away from him.

"You ready to go?" I asked. "Yeah." Betty said as we left. It was silent during the walk home and we finally made it to her house. "Well, this is me." she said as we got to the house. "See you at school on Monday?" I said. "Yeah, see you later." she said as she walked towards her house.

I decided to stop over at Pop's for my nightly hot chocolate. I stopped in and went over towards the bar. "The usual hot chocolate, Paige?" Pop Tate asked. I nodded as I handed him some money. "Keep the change, Pop." I told him. As Pop was making my hot chocolate, the seat next to me was occupied and I looked over and it was Ember.

"Even if you're not working, you're here." Ember said. "I know, you miss me too much." I said, sarcastically as she laughed. "What are you doing here? I thought you would still be over at Cherry Bombshell's place." Ember said. "Reggie got drunk and Cheryl was kind of being vindictive tonight." I said.

"You really need to break up with that fuckboy." Ember said as I just shrugged. She looked behind her and then looked to me. "You wanna join me and my cousin?" Ember asked as the bell jingled and I looked to see who it was and it was Archie.

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **It was midnight, and my good friend, Archie Andrews, arrived at the one place in town that was still open.**_

 _ **He was looking for the girl next door. Instead, he found me."**_

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

"I should go. I need to arrive at the Barringtons early, tomorrow." I told Ember as I walked out of Pop's.

Early in the morning, I woke up and got ready to go over to the Barrington house. I walked down there, because it was only around the block and I rang the doorbell and Mr. and Mrs. Barrington look like they were going to leave.

"Hey, Paige." Mr. Barrington greeted. "Hi." I said with a smile. "Paige!" I heard yelling and I looked over and there was Mackenzie Barrington. The five-year old was running down the stairs and got me into a hug. "Hey, Cutie-Pie." I said with a smile.

"We know that you guys will be fine?" Mrs. Barrington asked. "You can count on me, Mrs. Barrington. Have a good trip." I said with a smile. "See you guys on Sunday." they said as they now left the house.

"Can you make waffles, Paige? Please?" Mackenzie asked, giving me the puppy eyes. I sighed out. "Fine." I said. "Yay!" she exclaimed as she ran into the house and I followed her into the house. As I was getting the stuff to make waffles, my phone rang and it was my dad.

"Hey, dad." I said with a smile.

" _Paige, did you make it to the Barringtons alright?"_ my dad asked.

"Dad, you know it was right around the block. What happened?" I asked. And what my dad said next sent chills down my spine.

" _Jason Blossom was murdered."_

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **By morning, everyone would be talking, texting, and posting about it. We'd all be feeling it. But the world around us would be changed, maybe forever, that Riverdale wasn't the same town it was before.**_

 _ **But it was the town of shadows and secrets.**_

 _ **On Monday, the autopsy of Jason's body would take place. And on Tuesday, half-way through 5th period, the first arrest will be made."**_


	4. A Touch of Evil

**REVIEW TIMEE!1**

 **Luvs2Read: Thanks :)**

 **Sakura Tate: I just figured if I started at Season 1, I thought that it would build more characterization within Paige and give forward what her relationships with her peers are like**

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **I think many of us, maybe the entire town, has been hoping against hope, that somehow Jason Blossom hadn't drowned on July 4th.**_

 _ **We'd come to school Monday morning, and there Jason would be.**_

 _ **Or that we'd see him and Cheryl at a booth at Pops with the innocent server girl, Paige Bauer, serving them their order.**_

 _ **But that was before the undeniable, irrevocable fact of his bloated, waterlogged body.**_

 _ **A corpse with a bullet through the forehead, and terrible secrets that are going to be revealed by the cold, steel blade of a coroner's autopsy scalpel, or the tell-tale beating of a guilty heart."**_

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

To say that I have been avoiding Cheryl and Reggie over the weekend would've been an understatement; Cheryl was more than a little harsh at her party towards Betty at Thornhill and Reggie was a drunken fool.

But, the weekend came to an end and we have to face the horrors of high school for the next five days.

As I entered the school, I saw a memorial set up for Jason and after I saw Reggie purposely bump into Jughead Jones, that was enough for me to turn and walk away from him before he notices me. "Watch it, Wednesday Addams." I heard Reggie say.

He promised me that he wouldn't be an asshole towards Jughead anymore.

I turned a corner and Cheryl was standing there. "You've been avoiding me, Fairy?" she asked me. "No, I wasn't, Cheryl. I was babysitting." I told her as we were now walking down the hall. "You haven't been responding to any of my texts. Is it because of what happened at the party at Thornhill?" she was asking me. "I'm not mad at you, Cher. Just...peeved." I told her, honestly.

"What happened between Jason and Polly firmly happened between Jason and Polly, not those two and the families involved." I told her. "It's a long and bitter rivalry between the Blossoms and the Coopers got in the way. I don't want you to be mad at me." she told me, before she was now pouting at me.

"Please forgive me. Please." she said, using her puppy eyes against me. "Okay. I forgive you." I sighed out. "I love you, Tinkerbell." she said before she hugged me. "Love you too, Cherry." I told her. "If you excuse me, I have to meet up with Sheriff Keller and Principal Weatherbee." she said before she walked away.

I was in the art room, doing one of my numerous paintings and then I heard the PA go off. " _Morning, students, this is your Principal speaking. There have been many inquires about the upcoming Pep Rally, so let me state clearly, it is happening as scheduled. Now, for as facilitators know, can you give your attention to Sheriff Keller."_ Principal Weatherbee said before Sheriff Keller spoke up.

" _Most of you already know the details, but your classmate, Jason Blossom's, body was found late Saturday night, so over the weekend, Jason's death is now being treated as a homicide. It is an open and ongoing investigation."_ Sheriff Keller said before Cheryl cuts him off.

" _And may I interject, neither I nor my parents will rest until Jason's death is avenged and his cold hearted killer is walking The Green Mile to sit in old sparky and fry. I, for one, have my suspicions. #RiverdaleStrong."_ Cheryl said.

" _If you have anything that can help us find and apprehend Jason's killer, or anything that happened on July 4th, I strongly urge you to come forward, immediately, and speak with me or Principal Weatherbee. A death like this wounds us all. Let's not let Jason down."_ Sheriff Keller continued.

After I was finished with the majority of my piece for Art Club, I was now washing my hands off and heading over to my first class, which is Biology. I see an empty seat next to Jughead, so I went over and sat down by him.

"Hey, Jughead." I said as I sat down next to him. "Ah, here comes my favorite waitress at Pop's, gracing me with her presence." Jughead said as I giggled. "Never change, Jughead Jones." I told him. "As do you, Paige Bauer." he said. Then, that's when I heard Ginger and Tina interrogate Cheryl about Jason's death.

"We were wondering, Cheryl, back in July, you told the po-po that Jason drowned…" Ginger started. "Yet, it come out that Jason didn't drown, he was shot. Slightly suspicious now?" Tina finished. "Okay, those two need to leave her alone." I muttered to myself. Jughead chuckled at that. "What? They're being insensitive." I defended.

"Are you living mannequins suggesting that I had something to do with my brother's death?" Cheryl asked, defensively. "We're just curious. What do you think happened?" Ginger asked. "I'll tell you like I told them; which is that Jason did fall into the water, we both did. I made it to the shore, he didn't. Maybe he got to the other side of the river and someone shot him there. Who knows?" Cheryl snapped at her two minions.

"Seats, everyone, pair up, gloves on, scalpels up." Dr. Phylum said as he came in. "Can I be with Cheryl?" I hear Archie ask. "And I wanna be with Betty." Veronica said. "Oh, I was thinking that I would partner with Kevin." Betty said. "Actually, Keller's with me. We, like, talked." Moose said.

"I guess you're stuck with me." I told Jughead. "Better it's you than your stereotypical jock boyfriend." he told me. "He promised me that he would stop giving you a hard time." I told him. "Unfortunately, that offer didn't stick to his pea-sized brain." Jughead said.

All of the sudden, I heard Ginger gasp, and that caused Jughead and I to turn around and dissected the frog, very harshly. "In fact, I'm amazing." Cheryl said, unemotionally, as she did that.

I decided to stay in for lunch and finish up the details on my art project. As soon as I was done with my project, I walked down the hall and as soon as I looked over to my right, I did a double take.

It was Archie and Ms. Grundy, and they seem to be...intimate. The whole thing is rethinking about the whole student-teacher romances that have been in the media.

It was after school and I rushed into Pop's while adjusting my uniform. "Sorry, I'm late, Pop." I told him as I rushed behind the bar. "That's quite alright, Paige." Pop told me as I was now grabbing my notepad to take orders.

"Paige? You work here too?" I heard a familiar voice ask. I looked up and it was Veronica. "Oh, hey Veronica. Yeah, this is the other part of my work life, other than babysitting." I explained to her. She nods, as if she is understanding me. "Oh, mom, this is Paige. Paige, this is my mom." Veronica said, introducing me to her mom.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Lodge." I said, shaking her hand. "Call me Hermione, sweetheart. Say, aren't you related to Vivienne Castle?" she asked. "It's Bauer, now." I explained to her. "Ah, I knew that Chris Bauer and Vivienne Castle would end up together." Mrs. Lodge said.

"Wait, you knew my parents?" I asked her. "I went to school with them. Everybody knew about the relationship that happened between your parents, though they kept it a secret." Mrs. Lodge said. "Oh." I said, awkwardly, then I saw Ember walk into Pop's with a girl, who is about her height, has faded magenta-colored hair, and like Ember, is wearing a Serpent jacket.

"I'm gonna take their order. I'll be right back." I said as I walked out from behind the bar with my notepad in hand and walked over towards their table. Ember spots me and gets up from her seat to hug me. "Hey, Tinkerbell." she said. "Hey, Em." I told her as she sat back down.

"You two want any drinks to start off with?" I asked. "The usual, you Toni?" Ember answered. Usually Ember would get a 7-Up. "Coke's fine." the girl, who is now introduced as Toni, said. As I was writing that down, Toni spoke up.

"Wait, your name is Paige, right?" she asked. "How do you know my name?" I asked. "Ember never shuts up about how you're the only person that kept her sane." Toni replied. "Aw, you do care about me." I said, sarcastically, as Ember chuckled.

"I see you're already getting friendly with my cousin." Ember said. "To be honest, Ember's right. You kind of do resemble as a fairy." Toni said. "Charming my best friend now, Tone?" Ember asked. "You know that's my distinct trait." Toni said with a smirk.

"Here are your menus and I will go get your drinks." I told them as I left to get their drinks and that's how the rest of my shift at Pop's went throughout the rest of the night, with most of the residents of Riverdale being the customers.

As soon as I got into school early next morning, I went straight into the student lounge, where Reggie ranting about how Sheriff Keller brought him in for questioning.

"...And Sheriff Keller's grilling me, Mantle the Magnificent, because I want Blossom dead, when he was, like, the only good quarterback we have. And speaking of Defensive Tight Ends, I should've sent the cops to you, Moose, 'cause here's another unsolved mystery, what exactly were you and Kevin doing at the river, huh? Or does being with the Sheriff's son give you a free pass, Keller?" Reggie was going off.

Okay, now my reasons for not even speaking to Reggie are now justified.

"Reggie's being a blowhard, Kev." Betty said, consoling Kevin. "I don't care what he says." Kevin said and then Betty turns to me. "What do you see in him?" she asked me. "Now, I don't know. It's like he's a different person after the past weekend." I said to her.

"I mean, let's think about it, if a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not gonna be a jock, right? No, let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic Internet Troll, who's too busy writing his manifestos to get laid? Some smug, moody, serial killer fanboy freak, like Jughead." Reggie continued, now onto a warpath on antagonizing Jughead.

"What was it like, Suicide Squad, when you shot Jason? You didn't do stuff to the body, like, after?" Reggie was asking Jughead, fully antagonizing him. "Leave him alone, Reggie." I said, glaring at him. Reggie looked to me with a look of disbelief.

"Babe, are you seriously defending this loner freak?" he asked. "Paige, I got this." Jughead said to me before looking at Reggie. "It's called necrophilia, Reggie. Can you spell it?" Jughead retorted and that sent Reggie into a rage.

"Come here, you little…" Reggie growled, charging at Jughead, but was intervened by Archie. "Shut the hell up, Reggie." Archie said, shoving him away from Jughead. "Boys." Veronica said, warningly, as I stood up.

"Why do you care, Andrews?" Reggie asked. "Nothing, like Paige said, just leave him alone." Archie said, causing Reggie's face to go up into a smirk. "Holy crap, did you and Donnie Darko kill him together? Is it some kind of pervy, blood-brother thing?" he asked, now antagonizing Archie now.

Archie shoved Reggie, and that's what got them into a full-out brawl with each other before the pep rally.

Speaking of the Pep Rally, that day finally came and my parents and I walked up the bleachers and sat down. As we sat down, that's when Principal Weatherbee spoke up. "To kick off this Pep Rally, I'd like to give it to Mayor McCoy." Principal Weatherbee said as Mayor McCoy steps up and speaks out.

"Thank you, Principal Weatherbee. It is heartening to see many of you here, even in weather like this, but a lot of heart and school spirit has never been the Riverdale way." Mayor McCoy started as everyone on the bleachers cheered.

"Tonight's Pep Rally isn't like one we've had in our past, and we shouldn't pretend that it is, which is why I would like to dedicate this evening to the memory of one of our brightest, Jason Blossom. We're with him, tonight. Now, please, join me and welcoming to the field, our very own River Vixens and their special guest stars, my daughter, Josie, and her Pussycats." Mayor McCoy continued as we all cheered again.

The River Vixens have done their performance and when they were finished, Cheryl joined Josie, Val, and Melody on stage and she hugged Josie. "Okay, are you all ready? Now, put your hands together for the Riverdale Bulldogs!" Coach Clayton announced as the football team ran out into the field.

Then, all of the sudden, Cheryl ran off stage and away from the Pep Rally.

I made my way out of the bleachers and ran after Cheryl, and I noticed that Veronica was running alongside me. Veronica and I managed to find Cheryl in the Women's Locker Room, sobbing.

"Cheryl, you okay?" I asked out as we went into the Locker Room. I didn't get an answer, just more sobbing from my best friend. "Cheryl, what is it?" Veronica asked as we walked up to her.

"Jason...he's gone." she said. "Come here, hon." I told her as I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she leans her head against my shoulder. "I know. I know he is." Veronica said. "You don't. You don't understand. He was supposed to come back. I'm alone." she cried out.

"You're not alone." I told her and she got Veronica and I into a hug. We were like that for a while before we made it back to the Pep Rally. It was over than expected because I was now going into my late night shift at Pop's.

I went into Pop's and as soon as I started my shift, I saw Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Jughead be normal teenagers for once. That puts a smile on my face as I grabbed my notepad and walked towards them.

"Hi, what can I get for you?"

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **With someone on the outside peering in, it would've looked like there were four people in that booth. I was there, and I could tell you, there were only three.**_

 _ **A blonde girl, a raven haired girl, and the luckiest red-headed boy in the universe.**_

 _ **For one, shining moment, we were just kids, as brightening as the lights at Pop's kept the darkness at bay. Giving away is all night's must to a morning of reckoning."**_

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

I was in class and as Dr. Phylum was about to speak up, that's when Sheriff Keller and Principal Weatherbee walked into the classroom and Cheryl stood up. "You're here for me, aren't you? Because of the autopsy?" she asked. "We don't need to do this in front of your classmates, Cheryl." Principal Weatherbee said to her.

Wait, what is going on?

"It's alright, Principal Weatherbee. They'll find out soon enough." Cheryl said as she lifted up her arms, asking to be handcuffed. "That won't be necessary." Sheriff Keller said. "Wait, Cheryl, find out what?" I asked and what she said next left all of us with mixed emotions.

"That I'm guilty." she said.

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **As shocking as those three words are, they were nothing compared to secrets on the autopsy of Jason's body.**_

 _ **That Jason didn't die on July 4th as we believe, but over a week later."**_


	5. Body Double

**REVIEW TIMEE!1**

 **Guest27: :)**

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **Guilt. Innocence. Good. Evil. Life. Death.**_

 _ **As the shadows around Riverdale deepened, the lines between these polar opposite blurred and distorted.**_

" _ **I'm guilty." Cheryl said in her Biology class, but of what?"**_

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

Throughout the rest of that whole day, everyone was either crowding Principal Weatherbee's office or were in the hallway. We were all now watching as Mr. and Mrs. Blossom were escorting Cheryl out of the school.

The next day, I was in the student lounge with Kevin, Betty, Veronica, and Archie. Archie just finished telling us about he heard at Sweetwater River. "So, are you a suspect now?" Veronica asked. "My dad says we all are. Including me." Kevin responded. "Not me, girl. I don't know these people." Veronica says.

"Guys, maybe we should re-binge "Making A Murderer" on Netflix tonight?" Kevin asked. "Sorry, can't. Have to stay late to work on a paper." Betty says. "I can't. Working a late shift." I said. "Count me out too. I have a date tonight." Veronica said.

"You do?" Archie asked. "Which Riverdale Hottie made the cut?" Kevin said. "Hey, V-Lo, I'll swing by the Pembrooke to pick you up at 8?" I hear Chuck Clayton ask, with Reggie, Moose, and Isaac standing behind him. "I'll be waiting." Veronica said as Chuck, Reggie, Moose, and Isaac left the student lounge.

"Chuck Clayton?" Betty asked in disbelief. "You're going on a date with Chuck?" Kevin asked, with Veronica responding to those questions with a bright smile. "He's kind of a player." Betty said. "And from what I've heard, a scumbag." I added in.

"Who cares. He's the hottest of hot." Kevin said, ignoring Betty's plea. "And he's the Varsity Football coach's son. In Riverdale, that's, like, dating a Kennedy." Kevin continued.

I got on my uniform, and as I was adjusting it, I could hear Loki meow from my bed. "Baby boy, I can't play with you right now. I need to get ready for work." I told him, as I finished adjusting my uniform. I could hear Loki meow again as I finished adjusting my uniform.

"You know how to test me everyday." I told him as I picked him up and he purred as soon as I did. I got out of my room, with Loki carried in my arms. "Isaac, let's go!" I exclaimed for my brother. Isaac got out of his room and his eyes widened as he saw Loki in my arms.

"Hell no. That hellcat is not going into my car, Paige." Isaac said. I was about to speak up, but then he cuts me off. "He pissed all over my car seats the last time he was in the car. It took almost a week to get the smell out." Isaac said.

"Can you let me speak for one second?" I asked, as Isaac huffed out a sigh of irritation. "I am just holding Loki, I am not taking him out to the car." I told him as I turned to Loki. "Don't listen to the bad man." I cooed at him as I set him down. "We need to go, now." I told him as we are now leaving the house for my shift.

It was the next day at school. Betty, Kevin, and I came up to Veronica at her locker. "So, how'd it go with Chuck?" Kevin asked. "Chuck has muscles for days, but this conversation is not the stuff for Oscar Wilde or even Diablo Cody." Veronica responded to Kevin's question.

"Hey, Veronica. How was the sticky maple you had last night?" Ginger asked. I paled when Ginger asked that question.

This is what Betty and I were trying to warn Veronica about yesterday at the student lounge.

"The what now?" Veronica asked in confusion. "The Sticky Maple Chuck gave you. How was it?" Tina asked as Cheryl's two minions now walked away from us. "We had a brownie sundae if that's what you two hyenas mean." Veronica said.

That's when everybody's phone went off. I looked over at my phone and Chuck posted the Sticky Maple he gave to Veronica on Instagram. "Oh, my God." Kevin said. Veronica just grabbed Kevin's phone to see what happened. And she saw the Sticky Maple that was posted on Instagram.

"What the hell is a Sticky Maple?" Veronica asked, getting infuriated. "It's kind of what it sounds like. It's a Riverdale thing." Kevin responded to Veronica's question. "No, Kevin, it's a slut-shaming thing. And I'm neither a slut or nor am I gonna be shamed by someone named, excuse me, Chuck Clayton." Veronica vented off.

"Does he really think he can get away with this? Does he not know who I am? I will cut the breaks on his souped-up Phallic Symbol." Veronica continues to vent off.

"Or we can go to Principal Weatherbee." Betty suggested. "Betty, you know the faculty is like silly putty when it comes to Chuck. And with him being the coach's son, he can get away with anything." I said to her.

"Paige is right. About the coach's son, who is the captain of the Football team and is Riverdale High's resident Golden Boy?" Veronica asked, agreeing with me. "Or I can expose him in the pages of the Blue & Gold." Betty also suggested. "No. Spoken like a true good girl, who always follows the rules." Veronica said as she forcefully hands Kevin his phone back.

"Well, I don't follow rules. I make them, and when necessary, I break them." Veronica says, storming off, with Betty and I following suit. "You want to help me get revenge on Chuck, Betty? Awesome. But you better be willing to go full dark, no stars. What do you say, in or out?" Veronica asked Betty as are now entering the Boys Locker Room.

We were moving past the moving bodies that were in the locker room, with Betty was shielding her eyes from the half-naked boys. Then, we accidentally bumped into Archie.

"Veronica, Betty, Paige, what are you guys doing here?" Archie asked. "Don't worry about it." Veronica said, trying to go past Archie, but when he tried to stop her, she just got more irate. "I mean it, Andrews. Hit the showers or stay out of my way." Veronica said as Betty and I continued to follow Veronica up until the point where we got to Chuck.

Veronica cleared her throat and that's when Chuck turned away from his conversation with Moose. "Oh, B, V, and P. Menage a right on, ladies." Chuck said. I rolled my eyes as he said that.

"This is disgusting." Veronica said as she showed Chuck the Sticky Maple that he gave to her. "Take it down." she said. "Oh, why are you so riled up? It's a badge of honor and you're not exactly virgin territory since your closet date with Andrews." Chuck said.

"You're kidding me, right? Badge of honor?" I asked in disgust. "That's beyond irrelevant, Chuck. You're not allowed to go around humiliating girls for any reason under any circumstances, you jerk." Betty said. "Look, I get that you two are not the closet type of girls, but hey, if either of you two wanna ride the Chuck-wagon, that can be arranged." Chuck said. "Your ignorance and arrogance make me wanna vomit." I snapped at him.

"Let's keep this simple, so your preppy, murderer half-brain can grasp it. Take. This. The hell. Down." Veronica said, getting angrier by the moment. "Yeah, that high tone bitch attitude may have worked as you dated in New York, but you're on Bulldog territory…" Chuck started as almost half of the football team barked at her, making me cringe. "But please, fight back. You'll only make it harder on yourself." Chuck said.

I groaned out in frustration. "Ugh, I'm through with this!" I said in annoyance as I stormed out of the locker room. I was storming towards my locker and that's when I heard my name.

"Paige, wait." I heard my estranged boyfriend call out. "Not right now, Reggie." I told him. "Just listen…" he was about to say, but I cut him off. "You want me to listen? Call off your war dogs that are swarming Veronica." I told him as I walked away from him.

Later on that day, I got a text from Betty to meet her in the Blue & Gold. I got in at the same time Veronica did and we saw a bunch of girls, including Ginger, Tina, and Ethel Muggs, surrounding Betty. "This story's bigger than we thought. I started asking around to see what happened to you happened to anyone else would go on record." Betty said.

"I will. 100%" Ethel spoke up. "It's five guys on the football team, Chuck and his posse. Ethel was just about to tell us." Betty explained to us.

"One day last year, Chuck and I talked in the library for 10 minutes. I helped him with a Pre-Calc problem and nothing happened, but the next day, he started telling people that I let him...do stuff to me, like sex stuff. And then he or one of his goons wrote sloppy seconds on my locker." Ethel explained. "Yes, yes. We all heard your tragic origin story." I hear Cheryl say.

"I'm so, so sorry, Ethel. That's horrible." Betty said. "Not as horrible as being a suspect in your own brother's torture murder case, but we all have our crosses. In the meantime, River Vixen practice starts in 5 minutes, sluts, so…" Cheryl started, but Ethel spoke up again.

"They're ruining our lives, and to them it's a game. They keep score, and…" Ethel was going on, but the last thing she said got me to look up. "Wait, "keep score"?" I asked. Veronica caught on what I was inquisiting. "What do you mean "keep score"?" she asked. "Each conquest earns them points. They keep track in some secret Playbook." Ethel explained.

"Okay, we have to talk to Weatherbee." Betty said. "I already tried, Weatherbee says he didn't find anything." Ethel said. "Okay, we need undeniable proof." Betty said. "Proof of what, Nancy Drew? That boys will be boys? And that Playbook reeks of urban legend." Cheryl said.

"How would you know, Cheryl?" Veronica asked. "Because, Frida Shallow, before he died, my brother was co-captain of the Football team with Chuck, and Jason never mentioned it. And he never would've allowed it." Cheryl said.

"Okay, I've never met your brother, but I'm not lying about what happened to me. And Ethel's not lying, and proof or no proof, book or no book, I'm going scorched earth on these privileged, despicable miscreants. You wanna get caught in the backdraft, Cheryl, call me or any of these beautiful, strong, intelligent women "sluts" one. More. Time." Veronica snapped at Cheryl, making her go quiet.

Later on that night, Betty told me that Val's brother, Trev, know where the Playbook is so now, late at night, Betty, Veronica, Ethel, Kevin, and I have snuck into school to find the undeniable evidence.

"Football Players behaving badly? What else is new? Steubenville, Glenridge, the coach's son being the ringleader. I mean, how depraved is this town?" Veronica asked. "Color me impressed." a familiar voice spoke up, scaring us, and when we turned around, it was Cheryl.

"A B and E with a B and V. What would your holy-roller mother say about that, Betty?" Cheryl asked. "What are you doing here, Cheryl?" Betty asked. "And where did you get those thigh high boots? They're amazing." Kevin asked.

"Trev told Valerie, who told Josie, who told Ginger, who told Tina, who told me. And I thought I would help out." Cheryl explained. "Help or derail our investigation?" Betty asked. "Get over yourself, Betty." Cheryl said. "You guys. Get in here." I hear Ethel say.

We walked into the room that Ethel was in and she found the Playbook. "Trev was right. They didn't even bother to hide it." Ethel said as we were going through the book.

"New Girl? Is that what I'm reduced to? 9 points?" Veronica asked. "Better than Big Girl. 7.5." Ethel said. As I looked into it, I saw Isaac's name wasn't in there, making me have a mental sigh of relief.

I was taking pictures of the proof but after I took a picture of one of the pages, I stopped to get a closer look at it.

Reggie is ranked one below Chuck. And his name is next to mine.

Apparently, according to them I was known as _Paige (Little Bauer +2, Local Babysitter +1) = 11._

Then within the next lines are more things about me.

 _Summer Fling w/ Little Bauer x2._

 _Strings Attached? -2._

So, if I could total that up, apparently, I am worth 20 points

I could feel myself taking shallow breaths as I tried to control my tears. I turned away from the book as tears were falling down my face. I couldn't hear the conversation as there was a lot of things floating through my mind.

 _I was in the Playbook._

 _Reggie used my feelings._

 _He doesn't like me as he claims he does._

"Paige?" I could hear Cheryl ask me as I could feel her hand on my shoulder. "I'm in that book. I am so ignorant. You were right, Ember was right, even Isaac was right. I should never got involved with him." I got out.

"Let's just get you home, Tinkerbell." Cheryl said. "No. There's one more thing I need to do." I told her.

What I wanted Cheryl to do is to drive me up to Pop's, because I know that's where Reggie might be. "I'll be right back." I told her as I went into Pop's and once I saw Reggie, I stormed up to him.

"Hey, babe. I'm glad…" he started but then I cut him off. "You used me?" I asked him, getting straight to the point. "What are you…" he was about to say but then I pulled up the picture of the Playbook. "I can explain…" he started, but I already seen enough. "Looks like the picture says it all." I told him as I walked out of Pop's.

What I didn't know is that Reggie followed me, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me to a deserted alleyway. "Let go of me." I snapped at him, ripping my arm from his grasp. "You need to hear my standpoint on this." Reggie said. "Your standpoint?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Paige. The guys, they were pressuring me...I-I didn't have that much of a choice." Reggie said, stumbling through his words. "Didn't have that much of a choice? That has got to be one of the worst excuses I have ever heard of." I told him as I was walking away from him, but he grabbed my arm.

"Paige, baby…" Reggie was about to say. "Don't 'baby' me anymore, Reggie. If Isaac had the decency to not be in the Playbook, you should've had the morality to do so as well. But it looks like looks can be deceiving. Whatever we had, it's over. We're done." I told him. As soon as I was about to leave, Reggie grabbed my arm again.

"You don't mean that, Paige. You can't throw away what we have." Reggie said. "What we have? You used me!" I yelled at him. Reggie was about to speak up but a hand was on his arm.

I looked up to see who's hand that was and it was boy, around my age, and he was tall, ridiculously tall (I was like a midget compared to him), but what was more noticeable about him was the leather jacket he had on and the serpent tattoo that was on his neck.

"Hey, she said let her go, Bulldog." the boy said, glaring at him, fervently, and Reggie was glaring back at him with the same fury that the boy had. "Stay out of this, Serpent." Reggie spat out as he lets go of my arm and storms away from us.

"Thanks." I told him, too shy to look him in the eyes. "Don't mention it, princess." the boy said, gruffly, as I heard him walk away from me. I look at his retreating form for a few moments before I walked out of the alleyway and towards Cheryl's car.

Throughout the rest of the night, the tall South Side Serpent that came to my aid was etched into my mind

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **Good and Evil. Light and Dark. Betty and Veronica. Two sides of the same Janis coin.**_

 _ **Given Betty's article, Weatherbee needed a sacrificial lamb. Needed to make an example of someone, so after Hermione Lodge negotiated a lesser sentence for our two avenging angels, Coach Clayton, to save his job, to save the school's reputation, was forced to cut his beloved son and his goon squad from the team.**_

 _ **An action that, none of us knew, would have terrible consequences in the weeks to come."**_

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

Us girls had formed a little circle as we saw Chuck and his posse leaving the school after word got around that they have been cut from the team.

"Thanks, Betty. Thanks, Veronica." Ethel thanked the two. "Thank you, Ethel, for going on record and made all of the defense with Weatherbee." Betty said. "You're the bravest of them all, Ethel Muggs." Veronica said. "#JusticeForEthel." Cheryl chimed in.

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **Despite all of our recent troubles, I would've done anything to protect Archie, but Dilton Doiley just opened Pandora's Box, and now there's nothing I nor anyone could do to save him."**_


	6. The Last Picture Show

**REVIEW TIMEE!1**

 **Sakura Tate: Yeah, in the previous book, I tried to allude to what happened between Paige and Reggie, so in this version, I'm glad that I can fully encapsulate what happened between them**

 **Guest: Thanks :)**

 **Guest: I kid you not, I was having some trouble on how to bring Sweet Pea in, mainly because of the fact that he wasn't in Season 1**

* * *

 **Jughead's POV:**

" _ **It's been a week since the discovery of Jason Blossom's body, but his death won't be the first, nor would it be the last casualty would suffer.**_

 _ **The Twilight Drive-In, where I work, my home away from home, a piece of town history, is closing for good.**_

 _ **Just when we needed a place to escape the most.**_

 _ **With Sheriff Keller knocking on every door and neighbor suspecting neighbor, Riverdale, everyday that passes, has been becoming more like Salem during the Witch Trials.**_

 _ **And meanwhile, the girl next door, our friendly neighborhood Hitchcock Blonde, Betty Cooper, was wrestling with the knowledge that her best friend, Archie Andrews, was caught up in a forbidden romance."**_

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

Because of the Twilight Drive-In closing, Jughead, in particular, was infuriated.

"The Drive-In closing is just one more nail in the coffin that is Riverdale, forget Riverdale, the coffin of the American Dream." I hear Jughead rant out. "As the Godfather of Indie Cinema, Quentin Tarantino, would like to say…" Jughead was about to continue, but Kevin cuts him off. "Please, no more Quentin Tarantino references." I hear Kevin say.

"What? I'm pissed, and not just about losing my job. The Twilight Drive-In means something to us. People should be trying to save it." Jughead said. "In this age of Netflix and VOD, do people actually want to watch a movie in a car?" Veronica asked.

"Actually, yes. It's a part of the whole modern-retro aesthetic that keeps the soul of Riverdale." I told her as I came up to them. "Anybody want a refill?" I asked. "We're good, Paige. Thank you." Betty told me. "Wait, Paige, your shift is almost over, right? Why don't you sit down with us?" Veronica asked. "I guess I could wait until my dad arrives." I said as I sat down next to Veronica.

"I mean, who even goes there?" Veronica asked Jughead. "People who want to buy crack." Kevin said. "And cinephiles and car enthusiasts. Right, Bets?" Jughead adds in. "Totally." Betty said. "You have every right to be mad about this, Jug." I told him, being completely on his side.

"Anyways, it's closing because the town owns it, but never invest in it, so when an anonymous buyer made Mayor McCoy an offer she couldn't refuse…" Jughead was about to explain, but was cut off by Veronica. "An anonymous buyer? What do they have to hide? Who cares?" she asked.

"I do. Also, you all should come on Closing Night. I'm thinking _American Graffiti_ , or is that too obvious?" Jughead said. "I vote for anything that starring Audrey Hepburn or Cate Blanchett." Veronica pipes in. "Or _The Talented Mr. Ripley_." Kevin adds in. "Personally, I would go for movies like _Grease_ , _The Outsiders_ , _Halloween_ …" I was listing off.

"That's easy coming from Riverdale's Laurie Strode." Jughead quipped. "Yeah, but I'm not badass like her when she fends off a deranged lunatic like Michael Myers." I told him. "And besides, I can't promise whether or not I'll stay the whole night. I'm gonna be babysitting for the weekend." I added in before I turned to Betty.

"Okay, you're up, Betty. Your choices?" I asked her. She looks like she was out of it. "Everything okay, B?" Veronica asked. "Yeah, I'm just thinking. Um, maybe _Rebel Without A Cause_?" Betty suggested and I saw Jughead give her a smile. "Here you go, kids." I hear Mrs. Lodge say as she hands them their food. "Thanks, mom." Veronica thanked her mother before she left.

Then I hear the familiar voice of my best friend ring out throughout the diner. "Make sure to put _all_ of that cash in the register." I hear Cheryl say, loudly. Veronica gestured me to get out of the booth and once she managed to do so, she got out of her seat and advanced towards Cheryl, who was sitting at a booth across from Ginger and Tina.

"You are a Lodge afterall, and Lodges are known to have sticky fingers." Cheryl continued as Veronica got to their booth, despite me trying to tell her not to start anything. "Don't start anything, Veronica." I hissed at her, but she ignored me. "Cheryl…" Veronica started to say, warningly, but Mrs. Lodge held up her hand to stop her.

"Honey, I got this." she said to her daughter before turning her attention to Cheryl. "Cheryl, when I went to school with your mother, she didn't know the difference of having money or having class either." Mrs. Lodge said as she grabbed the money and walked away from their booth. "Let's just sit back down." I told Veronica as we were going back to our booth, but as soon as I was about to sit down one of my co-workers rushed into Pop's and towards me.

"Paige, there's a fight going on in the alleyway near Pop's. It's involving the Serpents." he said, lowly to me, and knowing full well that I was the only one that has the decency to serve any of the South Side Serpents whenever they stopped by at Pop's. "Son of a bitch." I hissed, knowing who the Serpents are in a fight with, so I exited the diner and went towards where the fight was.

Then, there I saw it. Reggie and two other members of the Football Team fighting with the Serpents, with one of them being that tall Serpent that I couldn't stop thinking about after I broke up with Reggie. I could also see Toni and Ember trying to stop the fight, but it was not working.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked, loudly. Thankfully, it was enough to break the fight up. "Paige, don't." Ember hissed at me, but I ignored it, waiting to what both sides have to say for themselves.

"Nothing to worry about, Paige. Just some South Side scum on Bulldog territory." Reggie told me. "You know what, get out of here." I told Reggie and the other guys that are with him. His eyes widened in disbelief.

"Are you serious, Little Bauer?" one of the Football Players asked in disbelief. "You are fighting outside of the place of my occupation. I will call the cops and I will tell them that you guys were the ones that started this mess. Don't make me say this again, get. Out. Of here. Now." I told them. "Fine, whatever. I feel sick being here anyways." Reggie snarled as him and the two other Football players left.

I glared at their retreating figures that I almost didn't notice Ember coming up behind my and placing a hand on my arm. "Paige, you okay?" she asked. "I'm fine." I told her as I turned around as I locked my eyes on the tallest Serpent of the bunch.

"Is that enough to repay you? For what happened a few nights ago?" I was asking him as I leave them be.

* * *

 **Ember's POV:**

As Paige was walking off, I turned to Sweet Pea to ask him what that was all about. "What the hell is she talking about?" I asked him, but he didn't respond. "Don't make me repeat it again, Sweet Pea. What. Was. She. Talking. About?" I asked him. "It's nothing, Washington. That asshole was the same asshole that was harassing her outside of Pop's a few nights ago." he said, defensively.

"And why does it matter, anyway? She's like every single one of those privileged Northsiders." Sweet Pea said, causing me to clench my jaw before I started to speak. "Because she's my best friend and I know that she's not like those privileged Northsiders." I told him, and Toni gave him a look that screams that I am not wrong.

"Please, don't give her such a hard time about that." I said to him. "I can't promise you anything, but fine." he told me.

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

"Archie, are you and Ms. Grundy like...together, like romantically?" I hear Betty ask. "What?" I asked in disbelief when I came up to them. I thought what I saw in the music room was a fluke and I try to get rid of that out of mind ever since, but now, there are no words to cover my shock and disgust. "Oh, my God. You and your music teacher are having an affair?" Veronica asked and it was at the same time as I came up to them.

"We are...together. Look, I know that sounds bad…" Archie was about to say, but Veronica cuts him off. "No, it's not bad. It sounds scandalous." Veronica said. "It sounds like jail time to me. Illegal." Betty said. "Betty, don't go there." Archie said. "I'm already there." she said.

"Ronnie, a little help here." he said to Veronica for backup. "I mean, technically Betty's right, and ethically, well, what is Grundy to you anyway? Your girlfriend? Your booty tutor?" Veronica asked, completely on Betty's side. "I don't know. I don't know what to call her." he answered before turning his attention to me.

"Paige, please tell me you're reasonable about this." Archie pleaded. "I'm sorry, Arch, but this thing between you and Grundy is making me think about Aria and Ezra in a whole new other light." I told him, honestly.

"Wait, you said that you were at the river alone. You lied to Sheriff Keller, to all of us. Why, to protect her?" Betty was asking. "She believed in me when no one else did." Archie told us. "Okay, we get it." Veronica said as Betty and I were just speechless. "Betty, say something. Please." he said to Betty. She just shook her head as someone beeped their car horn and a car pulled up to us, and it was Mrs. Cooper.

"Get in the car, Betty. Now." she said, sternly. Betty looked at us before she got into her mom's car and she drove off, leaving only Archie, Veronica, and I. "Oh, Archiekins, you're in it deep, this time." Veronica said. From the corner of my eye, I saw my dad's car pull up and with that, I left Veronica and Archie alone and went towards my dad's car.

As I got into my dad's car, I notice him staring at something. "Dad." I said, snapping him back into reality. "You okay?" I asked him. "I'm fine, sweetie." he told me as he started up the car and we drove home.

The next day, I was in school and I am at the student lounge with Veronica and Kevin. "It's this quintessential write of passage, making out with your boy/girlfriend at the movies." Kevin stated as he plopped down on the couch I was sitting on.

"Why don't the three of us go together? I can't promise you any action, but maybe I'll bring you good luck." Veronica suggested. "Great, another night, another hag." Kevin said, sarcastically, causing us to giggle. "I'm down with that." I told Veronica.

"Speaking of hags…" I hear Cheryl say when she came up to us. "Veronica, it is so devastating to me that your mother has to sink to unspeakable lows just to keep those knockoff Hermes bags on your arms. What's next, selling her hair extensions?" Cheryl asked, fully antagonizing Veronica now.

"My mom's a waitress, Cheryl, not Fantine. And your faux concern reeks ulterior motive, what is it?" Veronica asked. "Only to remind you of your place in this school, 'nay the town's social hierarchy." Cheryl replied.

"Threatened much? Don't worry, you may be a stock character from a 90s teen movie, but I'm not, and what does any of this due to my mom being a waitress?" Veronica quipped back as she stood up to be face-to-face with Cheryl. "Just that I saw her talking to a South Side Serpent last night." Cheryl said, making Veronica go silent.

"In the alley behind Pop's. They were having an extremely heated and intimate discussion." Cheryl continued as she went to her phone and pulled up a picture of Hermione talking to a South Side Serpent, but it wasn't any of the people that I saw last night. "See for yourself." she added in as she turned and walked away from us.

"Who or what is a South Side Serpent?" Veronica asked Kevin and I. "They're this gang of bikers that pretty much stays in the South Side, and thank god, because they are dangerous. Drug dealers, and petty thieves…" Kevin was listing off.

"It's not their fault. They always get blamed for every single imperfection that happens in this town without any evidence. In this modern-day Outsiders world, we're the Socs and they're the Greasers." I said, defensively. "Then, why was my mom talking to one?" she asked us, to which neither Kevin and I know the answer to.

Later that night, I was packing an overnight bag for the weekend, then my mom came into my room. "How's packing going, honey?" she asked. "It's going fine. Listen, tomorrow night, I was wondering if I could go to the closing night of the Twilight Drive-In?" I asked her. "That's fine by me, but be home directly after the movie, okay?" she asked, causing me to nod.

After I finished packing for the weekend, Loki was cuddled up next to me as I was watching Criminal Minds on Netflix. My phone blasted out and I answered it.

"Hello?"

" _Code red, P. There is a major code red."_ I hear Veronica over the phone.

"Veronica? What's going on? What do you mean ' _code red'_?"

" _Grundy isn't who she thinks she is. She is under an alias by the name of Jennifer Gibson."_ Veronica explained to me.

"Are you serious?" I asked, pausing my show.

" _It's not the only thing. She has a gun in her car as well."_ I hear Betty over the phone as well, and as soon as I heard that, I facepalmed.

I can say this with great confidence...Archie has gone truly insane.

The next night was the closing night of the Drive-In. I was cuddled up next to Veronica, and then Cheryl parks her car in front of the truck that Kevin borrowed. "Make some room, outcasts." Cheryl said, and we all scoot down and Cheryl was now sitting next to me.

"That hair…" Kevin swooned. "That jacket…" Veronica swooned. "God bless James Dean." I muttered. "Jason always adored the Drive-In." Cheryl commented. I could still hear some of the South Side Serpents that are sitting behind us making a ruckus during the movie.

"South Side trash." Kevin hissed. "Don't call them that." I said, defensively. "What's there to defend, Paige? They've been doing that since the opening credits." Veronica told me. "You should know that my fairy doesn't like to result conflicts with violence and threats." Cheryl said, causing me to give her a small smile.

Kevin tried to shush them to be quiet, but it wasn't working. That had infuriated Veronica enough to stand up to face the Serpents behind us. "Hey! You know what happens to a snake when a Louis Vuitton heel steps on it? Shut the hell up, or you'll find out!" Veronica yelled at them, and it was enough to make them go quiet.

Apparently, that was enough to make everyone, besides the Serpents, cheer for her. After she did a little curtsy, she sat back down. "I can't believe you just threatened a gangbanger." Kevin said. "I've dealt with worse in the East Village. I just hate it when people disrespect my cinematic experience." Veronica said.

"How about a refill?" Veronica asked Cheryl, handing her the almost-empty bucket of popcorn. "Yeah, Kevin, how about a refill? Cherry cola, as always." Cheryl said as she hands the bucket to Kevin. Shortly after Kevin left, Veronica got off from the truck and left too, leaving Cheryl and I confused expressions before turning back to the movie.

It was a little while later after both Kevin and Veronica left. When Veronica came back, she noticed that Kevin was still gone. "He's still gone?" she asked. "I'll go get him. Probably got sidetracked." I told her as I got off of the truck.

As I was going towards concessions, a hand pulls me off to the side. When I looked up, it was Reggie. "Okay, you seriously need to leave me alone." I told him as I glared. "Paige, are you really gonna give up everything that we have?" he asked me. "Everything we had was all a fabrication and you know it." I told him. "You hurt me, Reggie. Now, I'm moving on." I told him, but he grabbed my arm again as I tried to move away.

"Paige, come on." he said, then all of a sudden, a figure stood by my side and his lips had attached to mine. When I got out of my shock, I looked up and it was that Serpent that Reggie was fighting with when I broke up the fight at the alleyway besides Pop's.

"Where'd you go, baby?" he asked me. At first, I was a little confused, but then I continued up with the act when I noticed Reggie was still here. "I-I was just going to concessions." I told him, and then when I turned around, I could see him storm off.

"We seriously need to stop meeting up like this." I told him, and that rises a chuckle out of him. "Guess that's the daily drama in the North Side." he said. "Don't remind me of it." I said. "Ember's right. You're not like most Northsiders." he said, causing me to shrug. "I guess not." I replied back to him.

"I need to go." I told him, but as I was about to leave, I realized that I never got his name, so I turned, and as soon as I was about to speak up, the guy speaks up.

"I already know who you are, Paige Bauer. Name's Sweet Pea." he told me, and I nodded at that. "Nice to meet you, Sweet Pea, and thank you for helping me evade my ex." I said with a smile as I turned to walk away.


	7. Heart of Darkness

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* * *

 **3rd POV:**

" _ **Every town has one, spooky house that all the kids avoid; our's is Thornhill, the Blossom family's mansion, with it's very own graveyard.**_

 _ **And trapped within its walls, like some Gothic heroine, Cheryl Blossom, still grieving for her beloved brother, Jason, linked in death, even as they were in life."**_

* * *

 **PAIGE'S POV:**

"Fairy!" I heard and I turned around to see Cheryl. "You still coming to Thornhill?" she asked. "You're lucky that I was able to reschedule my usual babysitting schedule." I told her. I'm trying my best to stay on her good side, considering that this week has been nothing but an utter nightmare for her.

Nevermind that, we locked pinkies as we made our way towards Betty, Archie, Veronica, Jughead, and Kevin. "Sorry to interrupt, sad Breakfast Club, but I'm here to formally invite you to Jason's memorial this weekend." Cheryl said as she was handing out invitations.

"To my surprise and chagrin, mother added you to the Guest List. Incase you're tempted to steal our silver candlesticks, don't. We'll be searching bags." Cheryl said to Veronica, very icily, might I add, as she walks away from them. I sent the group an apologetic look, before going after Cheryl.

"Cher, I know what you're going through, but can you not be that brash towards them?" I asked her. "You are so cute, Paige. What I said was the truth." she says as we were walking down the hall. "Cheryl, wait." I hear Veronica say as she walks up to us.

"You're in pain. This is a horrible week for you, I'm sure it's why you're being particularly obnoxious." Veronica said. "Maybe. What's your point?" Cheryl asked, not sparing Veronica a glance. "Look, I don't want to be locked in a cat fight to the death with you." Veronica started to say to ease the tension. Cheryl turns to look at Veronica.

"That only ends in one way, mutual annihilation." Veronica continued. "Agreed." Cheryl said, monotonously. "So, can't we just be friends? Or, at least, frenemies?" Veronica asked as Cheryl and I reached the staircase.

"If you really want to extend an olive branch, come to a sleepover I'm having." she said. "Fine, sure. When?" Veronica asked. "It's the night before the memorial. Glad you two could talk this out without fighting one another." I said to her, as we were going up the staircase to get to class.

The day before Jason's memorial and it quickly descended to nightfall and I was over at Thornhill with Veronica. Isaac would come, but I don't think he could handle being in Thornhill without Jason. Throughout the entire week, he was unusually quiet, and it wasn't like him. Plus, it doesn't help that he doesn't like Jason and Cheryl's parents that much, and I pretty much don't blame him.

Words do not express how Penelope and Clifford Blossom creep me out. I firmly believe the only positive influence that Jason and Cheryl have within their family besides each other would be Nana Rose Blossom, and I'm kind of glad that Veronica agreed to this sleepover.

"Thank you for having me." Veronica said to Mrs. Blossom as all of us were eating dinner, quietly, causing her to send out a fake smile. "Cheryl invited you. I have no idea why you're here. I thought I only expected Paige." she said, icily. "Me neither. I thought there would be other girls." Veronica said.

Oh, just wait for it, Veronica. You don't know what to expect.

"Nana Rose, would you like some more ham?" Mr. Blossom asked, and it only resulted Nana Rose to not say anything. "Veronica, Paige, would you two like some more maple ham?" Mr. Blossom asked. I shook my head. "I'm good. It's delicious, though." Veronica spoke up. "You can really taste the maple." she adds in.

"You do know that Riverdale was found in the Maple Syrup industry." Mr. Blossom points out. "I didn't, actually. Fascinating." she said. The girl spent most of her life in New York. I don't blame her for knowing that. "That's where Sweetwater River got its name. Perhaps, you should ask your father about it sometime." Mr. Blossom adds in. I gave Veronica a wary glance as Mr. Blossom just mentioned her incarcerated father.

"How is he, by the way?" he asked. "Okay." Veronica responded, quietly. "There are worse things in prison." Mrs. Blossom adds in. "Like this dinner party." Cheryl mused in, snidely. "What did you say?" Mrs. Blossom asked, very harshly. That resulted Cheryl to stay quiet and for Veronica to catch on about what goes on within the Blossom family.

"That must've been...hard for you watching your father get handcuffed and get dragged out of your home in front of you and your neighbors. All those reporters." Mr. Blossom continued on, despite what happened between Mrs. Blossom and Cheryl. Cheryl and I send wary looks to Veronica.

"The worst part was how fast it happened. He was just...gone. I didn't even got a chance to say goodbye. That's why I think it's so great that you all get to say goodbye to Jason." Veronica said. "Not all of us." Cheryl said. I think that it's messed up that Mr. and Mrs. Blossom wouldn't let Cheryl speak at Jason's memorial.

"That's because some people already got to say goodbye to Jason, while rowing him across the river." Mrs. Blossom said as she stood up and walked away with her plate. After what happened during that tense dinner, Cheryl, Veronica, and I were up in Cheryl's room and we were going through a photo album of Jason.

"I hope this isn't weird, but Jason is crazy handsome." Veronica said. "The handsomest. Something tells me he would've liked you." Cheryl said. "Why did you invite me tonight? Why not Tina or Ginger? Aren't they your besties? I understand why you invited Paige." Veronica said.

"And yet, that night at the Pep Rally, after I had my panic attack, you and Paige helped me, not them." Cheryl says as she is now looking down at Jason's picture within the photo album. "Cheryl, you're allowed to say goodbye to your brother, but why does it have to be…" Veronica started, before getting cut off by Cheryl. "In front of people?" Cheryl finished. "Yeah."

"Everything with Jason has been so...public. Everyone has an opinion, has been gossiping, saying he got what he deserved, or that he didn't. I just...wanted to let everyone know that I'm sorry, and Jason deserved that better family than what he got." Cheryl confessed as I put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Then, do it. Paige and I will help you, and let Penelope and Clifford Blossom do their worst." Veronica said. "Oh, they will. They'll kill me." Cheryl said, and within the tone she said it in, I didn't know whether she's joking or serious.

The following day is the funeral, and Veronica, Cheryl, and I were all dressed and ready to go. "You ready?" I asked as Veronica and I came up to her. "Just about." Cheryl said as we are seeing people piling into Thornhill. "You two go ahead, I'll be down." she added in. "Okay." Veronica said as we exited Cheryl's bedroom.

Veronica and I made it down to the room where the memorial is being held. I am sitting next to Kevin, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Archie go up to Mrs. Blossom with Jason's jersey in tow.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Blossom. I thought you might wanna have this." Archie said, handing the jersey to her. "You're so much like him." Mrs. Blossom said as she stroked his cheek and waved her fingers through Archie's red locks.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she said, realizing what she just did. "Thank you, Archibald." Mrs. Blossom adds in before walking away from him, and he walked back to his seat next to me. "Did she just touch your hair?" Kevin asked. "That was really sweet what you did." Betty said. "She deserves it more than I do." Archie said.

"Days like today really put things in perspective, huh?" Veronica said, coming up to us. "I mean, at least we're here. At least we're alive." Veronica said. The next thing I saw clearly shocked me.

If Cheryl's red hair didn't point her out like a sore thumb, then the white dress, the same white dress she wore when she lost saw Jason, clearly did.

"Oh, my God." Veronica said. "Yes." Kevin breathed out, as Cheryl made her way to the podium. "Welcome to Thornhill. Thank you all for coming. If you kindly take your seats." she greeted the occupants that are currently in the mansion, as some people took their seats. "I'd like to start the memorial, with a few words." Cheryl started.

Veronica and I saw Mrs. Blossom about to jump up from her seat and lunge towards Cheryl, but Mr. Blossom prevented her from doing that. "You're only going to make things worse." Veronica whispered.

"The last time I saw Jason, I was wearing this dress. I know it's impossible, but I swear when I put it on, I feel like he's in the room with me." Cheryl said, while momentarily looking at the picture of Jason.

"Even though we were twins, I used to demand that I have my own birthday party. Until one year, out of the blue, Jason convinced me we have to combine them into one. It wasn't until years later I found out why. It's because no one wanted to come to mine, and Jason didn't want me to know. He protected me every single day." Cheryl continued, now having tears in her eyes and looks like she is about to break. Veronica and I shared the same anxious look.

"I wish that day at the river, I protected him." Cheryl continued. She let out a sob before turning to the coffin. "I'm so sorry, JayJay." Cheryl cried out, and with that Veronica and I leapt up from our seats towards Cheryl. "We failed you. All of us." she continues to cry out. When we both got up there, she hugged the both of us, still sobbing.

After that, Mrs. Blossom walked up to the podium. "I think we'll adjourn now to the Winter Salon for a light supper." Mrs. Blossom said, and I know, through her tone of voice, she was using a fake smile.

After the memoriam, my parents, Isaac, and I were all piled into the kitchen. "You know the Blossom family can be a real piece of work, but in the end, it wasn't about us. It's about Jason." my dad said. My mom just ran her fingers through his hair and kissed him on the cheek. "I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child so young." my mom said as she rested her head on his shoulder.

In the end, we would all feel nothing but sorrow for the toxic family and living situation that Cheryl and Jason would have to go through.


	8. In A Lonely Place

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* * *

 _ **What makes a place feel like home?**_

 _ **Is it warmth and familiarity? Some idealized version of The American Dream? Is it love and acceptance? Or is it simple safety?**_

 _ **Or it's none of those things, and it's a place where the captain of the football team got murdered. Or maybe it's just a forgotten closet under the well-trod staircase, where it's just you, and the mice, and the spiders, like an extra in a Wes Craven movie.**_

* * *

After Archie killed it at the Variety Show, along with Veronica, Josie, Val, and Melody, Jughead and Betty dealt with their own problems; they found a stranded car with evidence that Jason is running with Polly, but when they tried to get to her, she escaped the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. And side note, Polly is pregnant with Jason's baby.

"My mom and dad don't want to get the police involved. They don't want them to know that she ran away, or about her shameful condition." Betty explained to us. "Please. What decade is this?" Veronica groaned out. "Since she knew where Jason's getaway car was, they're afraid that they think that she burned it, and if she did..." she continues, quietly. "She could be the murderer, trying to cover her tracks." Jughead pipes in.

"Then who would've burned the car?" I ask, quietly, making sure nobody is hearing. "Sheriff Keller says that it was possible that someone is following us," Betty said. "Oh, my God. Honestly, guys, we should just move." Veronica bluntly says. "The way that Riverdale is in, can't blame you." I scoffed in my reply.

"Guys, what if Polly's really hurt? What if whoever killed Jason is coming after her next?" Betty was asking, getting worried about her sister minute after minute, causing Jughead to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, taking us all back by surprise, but in a good way.

"Betty, even though your parents don't want to, maybe you should go to the police," Archie says. "Seconded, we can talk to my dad together about it, but it has to be discreet." Kevin agrees with Archie.

"Kev, I love you, but you know that your dad only responds to the Blossoms. They would be the first people to tell." I told him, honestly. "And if there's anyone to keep this a secret from, it's the Blossoms," Betty said. "Don't get me wrong, Cheryl and I are through and thick, but her parents will most likely twist and bend the narrative," I said, quietly. "And would go after Polly out of spite," Betty adds in. "How can we help, B? Tell us." Veronica was asking. The bell rang and we all went our separate ways.

Kevin and I are walking to History class, then all of a sudden, our phones go off. My eyes bulged out of my head as I saw what Cheryl had tweeted on Twitter. Kevin and I share the same wary glance. "We need to tell Betty," Kevin told me as we were walking, very fastly, towards Betty and Veronica.

When we reached the duo, Kevin speaks up. "You guys, oh, my God. Cheryl just tweeted '#PollyCooperKilledMyBrother #NowhereToHide #SharpenYourPitchforks'." Kevin read off his phone. "Oh, no," Betty said as she went pale. "We need to find her before the Blossoms do," I said, my anxiety levels reaching to a high point.

After school, a handful of us, including my parents, my brother, and myself, were in the woods trying to locate Polly. "Okay, so the Sisters of Quiet Mercy are due North, the getaway car was West on Old Route 40…" Betty is instructing us. "Closest bus station is East, heading towards Sweetwater. If Polly wanted to leave Riverdale without anyone seeing her, she would probably leave…" Jughead continued. "Right here." Betty took over, as we are now on the search for Polly Cooper.

"How's the Cold War at home?" Kevin asks as he, Veronica, and I are searching for Polly. "Horrible. Look, I hate fighting with my mom, but until she is ready to admit and own that she forged my name to help elicit with Fred Andrews, I can't blink, guys. She needs to make the next move." Veronica confesses.

"Okay, but what if she doesn't blink?" I ask her. "Back in New York, whenever I need to blow off some steam or force my mother's hand, I go out on a bender; dancing with my fave celebrity gal pal, my best gay, Daenerys Targaryen from Season 1, and some dimwitted, sexy, disposable arm candy, that's Josie, you, Paige, and as for my arm candy..." Veronica was listing off, then she sets her eyes on Reggie. "He'll do," she says. "I'm in. I'm so in." Kevin says, excitedly.

"Veronica, I'm honored, but on that night, I'm going straight to babysitting," I told her. "You really are Riverdale's Laurie Strode," Veronica says. "Without the whole homicidal lunatic trying to kill me. People really need to rope in Michael Myers if they want to compare me to Laurie Strode." I sighed out.

"Should we invite Betty? She could probably use a distraction, right now." Kevin says, but Veronica is staring at something else. "I think she might be a tad busy," Veronica says, causing Kevin and I turned around to see the Blossoms in the same direction as us.

I knew that this isn't going to turn out good, considering the mysterious feud between the Blossoms and the Coopers. Eventually, Mrs. Blossom is now face-to-face with Mrs. Cooper.

"Alice Cooper. Where is she? Where's Polly?" Mrs. Blossom hissed at Mrs. Cooper, who is just confused. "You think if I knew that, I would be out here with the mosquitoes?" Mrs. Cooper rebuffed, but the Blossoms weren't affected.

"Face facts, Mommy Dearest. Polly killed Jason." Cheryl states, bluntly. "She escaped from the asylum once, who's to say she didn't before, say before Jason got murdered?" Mr. Blossom pipes in. "The noose is tightening around your murdering daughter's neck. I know it, Sheriff Keller knows it..." Mrs. Blossom was saying. "Hold on, now." he pipes up, not really wanting to get into the middle of another verbal spat between the matriarchs.

"And I promise you when we find her, and we will find her, the entire town of Riverdale will know too." Mrs. Blossom continues, and the tension was high enough that most of us have to back down.

Later that night after the Porter children are asleep, Mr. and Mrs. Porter walked through the house. "Thank you again for watching the kids, Paige." Mr. Porter says as his wife hands me my babysitting money. "It's no problem," I said. "Are you sure you don't need a ride home, sweetie?" Mrs. Porter asks. "No need to. My house is not far from here." I told her as I left the Porter house.

On my trek home from babysitting, I notice figures that are a block away from my house. When one of the figures turned, it is Ember. "Finally, you're back," she says, gaining the attention of some of her friends that I saw at Pop's that one day when Veronica, Betty, and I found out about the gender-bent Ezria relationship between Archie and Ms. Grundy. The two I don't know, but the other two, I know for a fact that it's Toni and Sweet Pea.

"What're you guys doing here?" I ask. "We are going to the quarry, no ifs, ands, or buts," Ember states, getting straight to the point. I look over at Ember's other two friends. "There's no way I'm getting out of this one, is there?" I ask them. "Considering that it's Ember, it would be a no." one of her friends with longer hair says before the guy next to him speaks up.

"Fangs, Joaquin." the guy says pointing at himself, and then the guy next to him. I was about to say my name, but Fangs cuts me off. "We know who you are, Paige. We heard a lot from Sweet Pea's fantasies." Fangs said with a smirk. "Shut up." Sweet Pea mutters as he is now looking down at the ground, pouting. "Let's get moving, guys," Toni says.

"You ever been on a motorcycle before, princess?" he asks me as he grabbed my hand and lead me towards his motorcycle. I flush in embarrassment when he asks me that. "You better hold on tight," he says as he grabs me by the waist and settles me on the back of his motorcycle. He revs up his motorcycle as I wrap my arms around his waist, and then he rides off into the night.

* * *

 **3rd POV:**

Unbeknownst to everyone, there was someone watching the teenagers' every move.

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

I could barely remember the night, but I truly felt like I was a bird set free. No North Side-South Side wars, just several teenagers having fun. At one point we all decided to play chicken, with Sweet Pea and I being paired, Ember and Joaquin being paired, and Toni and Fangs being paired. As a result, we fell in the water. At a certain point in time, Sweet Pea and I couldn't keep our eyes off each other.

Several days later, after school, I was working as I served the group of Archie, Veronica, Polly, Betty, and Jughead. "The Blossoms should be here soon, and once we talk things through with them, we call mom and dad," Betty informs Polly. "Are you nervous?" Betty asks her. "I'm thankful," Polly replies. "At the home, the Sisters said we each have a guardian angel, and you're mine, Betty," Polly said. I hear the bell ring at Pop's, and I saw Cheryl walk in. Polly walks up to her, and I could sense that something's wrong.

After Polly shared a private conversation with Cheryl, Betty speaks up. "Cheryl, where are your mom and dad?" Betty asks. "You have to leave. Now. My parents, I don't think they want to help you." Cheryl states. "Cher, what are you talking about?" I ask, but she continues to talk to Polly.

"They want you out of the picture, Polly. It's not safe for you with them. It's not safe for JJ's baby." Cheryl continues. Scared out of her mind, Polly turns to us. "Where am I supposed to go? I can't go back to the attic." Polly says, soon, Veronica speaks up.

"Don't worry, Polly." Veronica starts before she turns to Betty. "And don't worry about my mom, Betty. She'll want out." Veronica says. And with that, Polly is momentarily living with the Lodge women.

* * *

 _ **Hope; a word so close to home. And is tricky.**_

 _ **As much as we wanted Jason's killer caught, and the town and our home to feel safe again, with every day that past, our hopes dimmed more and more. There's an old saying 'there's darkness before the dawn'.**_

 _ **But sometimes, there's just darkness.**_


	9. The Outsiders

_**The Coopers, the Stepfords of Riverdale. High School Sweethearts who got married and got two beautiful daughters, Polly and Betty.**_

 _ **Until Jason Blossom happened.**_

 _ **And now, we hear from the person closest to him leading days towards his disappearance, Polly Cooper.**_

 _ **How a casual conversation turned into an epic forbidden romance. How, for reasons still murky, their respective parents tried to tear them apart. How their breakup is short-lived. Polly learned that she was pregnant with Jason's baby. How they became secretly engaged, with his grandmother's blessing and their heirloom ring. And made plans to run away together to start a new life. And now their dreams of escape went up in flames.**_

* * *

"Polly's convinced that no one wants her baby," Betty told us as we are in the student lounge. "Besides the child-snatching Blossom monsters," Kevin said. I cleared my throat and gestured to the Blossom girl that is sitting next to me. "No offense, Cheryl," he adds in, realizing his mistake. "None taken." Cheryl spat out.

"So, your mom and dad want Polly, but not the baby, and the Blossoms want the baby, but not Polly. It's a true Gordian nod." Jughead comments. "It's...an impossible situation," Betty says. "Betty, an impossible situation is being invited to the Vanity Fair Oscar party and Elton John's Oscar party on the same night." Veronica inputs in. "Which happened to be one year, I know," Veronica told a star-struck Kevin.

"This is merely an annoying situation, but luckily, I've been park leading on an idea. Hellishly simple on its conception. What if my mom and I were to host a baby shower?" Veronica asks. "Count me in." Cheryl pipes in.

"You want Polly to feel loved and supported, right?" Veronica asks. "Right, ideally by her own parents." Betty rebuffs. "Okay, so baby steps, girl. Get Polly and your parents in the same room, in a public setting where they can't fight, and voila, let the healing begin." Veronica says. "Am I expected to come to this thing?" Jughead asks. "Of course. You're Betty's boyfriend, so…" Veronica trails off as she sips her coffee. Everyone went quiet after she said that.

"Oh, my God, guys. Relax. It's just a letter that starts with the letter B." Veronica says to everyone before turning to a beaming Betty. "Betty, what do you say?" Veronica asks. Before Betty could reply, her mom storms into the student lounge.

"Elizabeth Cooper," she says, sternly. "Mom," Betty replies within the same tone. "I need you and you, right now," she says, pointing to Betty and Veronica.

"Well, I think a baby shower's a great idea." my mom commented as we were sitting down for dinner. "Knowing Polly, she's gonna invite Mrs. Blossom and Mrs. Cooper," I told her. "Well, let the bloodbath commence," she says. Isaac's phone went off all of a sudden.

"I gotta go." he abruptly says as he stood up. "Isaac, where are you going? We're just about to eat." my mom was telling him. "Andrews needs my help with something," he says as he leaves the house.

Later that night is the baby shower. My mom and I stepped into the Pembrooke and into the Lodges' luxurious apartment. "Hermione, I love what you did with the place." my mom says with a glowing smile. "It means a lot, Viv." Mrs. Lodge replied as we fully entered the apartment we had set our present on the table and walked off.

Then, in an unexpected twist, Mrs. Cooper showed up. After a moment between Polly and Mrs. Cooper, Cheryl barges in with a baby carriage. "We're here!" she announces, getting everyone's attention. "No big deal. It's only the best stroller that money can buy," she says as Mrs. Blossom rolls Nana Rose in.

"So...expensive," Polly says. "All I ask in return is that you make me the baby's godmother," Cheryl says. Betty clears her throat, signaling that she is most likely the baby's godmother. "Kidding," she says as there is hesitant laughter filling the air. "So not kidding." she mused out as she walks away.

Later on, Betty, Mrs. Cooper, Val, Melody, Veronica, Cheryl, Mrs. Blossom, and I were all gathered around Nana Rose as she is dangling a jewel necklace above Polly's head. "This necklace reads the baby's aura. Predicts the sex." Nana Rose says. "Nana Rose has dementia and Gypsy blood." Cheryl mused in.

"Oooh." Nana Rose says. "What? Is my baby okay?" Polly asks. "Babies. It's twins. One of each." she says. After that, Polly is now opening up her presents. Polly opens up Mrs. Cooper's present, which is a nightlight that she had when she was little. "Alice, that was very lovely." my mom inputs in.

"Open our's next, dear." Mrs. Blossom says. Then, Archie comes in, unexpected. He walks up to Jughead. "Excuse me for a moment, mom," I said as I was walking up to Archie. "You were protecting him. That's why you didn't tell me." Archie says. "Relax. What happened?" Jughead asks, confused.

"Archie…" Betty says as we are trying to diffuse the situation. "Did you know that Jughead's father is a Serpent?" Archie asks Betty, who clearly didn't know. "No…," she says, distantly. "So what if he's a Serpent? People are still humans no matter the cost." I snapped at him.

"Do you know that Ember Washington is a Serpent as well?" he asks me. "As a matter of fact, yes. But you don't see me giving her shit about it." I hissed as I now stormed out of the party.

After I left the baby shower, I was in my room doing my homework, then a knock came on my door. "Paige, can I come in? It's mom." I hear my mom say through the door. "I guess." I quietly say as she opened the door.

"Did you want to talk about what happened at the baby shower?" she asks me as she sat on my bed. "Not really. I'm just sick of all of this fighting." I said. "Don't have to tell me twice," she says. "But honey, I don't think it's a good thing to be friends with that Ember girl anymore," she adds in, catching me by surprise.

"Honey, I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did," she adds on. "Those same mistakes help you meet dad," I told her. "I'm trying to help you," she says. "You always told me to fight what I believe in. You know for a fact that the South Side is the scapegoat of every single imperfection, especially the Serpents." I told her.


	10. The Lost Weekend

_**Weekdays at 8:25 A.M to 3:01 P.M, we adhere stick to a strict regimen. Everything in our lives is controlled, then something like the murder of Jason Blossom happens, we realize there is no such thing as control, there is only chaos.**_

 _ **Nevertheless, some of us strive to impose or maintain order in, what is, fundamentally, an orderless world; a fact, which would be very soon confirmed, in ways none of us would've foreseen.**_

* * *

I am working a morning shift when I see Jughead typing away on his laptop. I decided to work a morning shift before I go into school.

I went over to his table and refilled his cup of coffee. "So your birthday's going to be coming up soon," I told him. "It's nothing exciting, Paige. You know that." Jughead says.

"I'm just saying, if you're going to have a party, that will totally be out of character for you," I said to him as I hand him his newly filled coffee. "Then I'm staying in character within my tradition of not having a birthday party," Jughead told me as I chuckled and walked away.

I was at lunch with Betty, Veronica, Archie, and Kevin. "Anyway, enough about my drama, Betty, you were saying something about Jughead's birthday…" Veronica trails off. "Yeah, it's just that Mr. Jones told me that Jughead's never had a birthday party," Betty says, as Archie and I nod in confirmation.

"Let's have one for him. Like a low-key surprise party," she says. "I serve that guy coffee ever since last year. A party would totally be out of his element." I told her, as Archie is agreeing with me. "That's a great idea." Veronica beamed.

"He doesn't like his birthday." Archie mused in, but that just gets him ignored. "Everybody says that nobody means it," Kevin says. "Jughead is a lone wolf," Archie says. I point my fork at Archie. "True," I say as I eat another strawberry from the fork. "Okay, ignoring the negativity. Betty, you know me. Any excuse to wear a cute party dress." Veronica says before she continues trying to plan for a party, which Archie and I are against.

"So, I'm thinking a quaint gathering, inner circle only." Veronica continued, but Kevin's attention is elsewhere. "Oh, my God. Don't turn around." Kevin says. We all ignored him to see what he is staring at and of course…

Chuck Clayton is back from suspension.

While Kevin is commenting on his lats, Archie just asked what Chuck is doing back. "He got suspended, not expelled," Veronica says. Betty, all of a sudden, gets up. "Betty, don't." I hissed as she is walking towards Chuck. "Oh, my God," Veronica says. I tuned out everything about Chuck and everything about the plans for Jughead's surprise party.

Later on within the night, I was getting ready for the private party for Jughead. I was going downstairs before I got stopped by my parents. "Where you going, Paige?" my dad asks me. "Archie's. There's a little get together for Jughead." I replied.

"FP's kid?" he asks. "Yeah. Why?" I ask, warily. "Nothing. It's just...I haven't seen him in years." he told me as he looks like he is reminiscing something. "Just be careful, Paige," he says. "No need to worry, dad," I say as I left my house.

I arrive at Archie's house at the same time that Veronica did. We walked in and we were greeted with surprises, but it dwindles down to silence. "Do we look like Jughead and Betty to you?" Veronica asks as we made our way towards Kevin, Archie, and Joaquin. Kevin's phone goes off. "Just got a text from Betty. They're on their way," he says.

"You two met Joaquin?" Kevin asks. "I met Paige only. A friend of mine couldn't stop eying her." Joaquin says as I awkwardly smile, thinking about the raven-haired boy that is over a foot taller than me. "You also have a Serpent boyfriend and didn't tell me?" Kevin asks me. "We're just friends." I hissed at him, and after Veronica greeted Joaquin curtly. He pulls Kevin with her.

"Guys, they're really coming this time. Everybody hide," Ethel announced as she looked through the window. After few moments passed and when Jughead and Betty came in, the lights came on and we all yell, "Surprise!"

After Archie and Veronica wished him a happy birthday, it was my turn. "I tried. I know you're not the type to have a party." I told him. "At least you got the memo," he muttered to me as we awkwardly hugged.

After Kevin hugged him and wished him a happy birthday, he introduces him to Joaquin. "Has anyone seen Betty?" Jughead asks, and, on cue, Betty came out of the kitchen, carrying a cake with candles lit, and started to sing happy birthday to Jughead, very hauntingly, may I add.

"That was...haunting, Betty," Jughead says as she kisses his cheek. "Blow out candles, make a wish," Betty says. "I wish it was the two of us," Jughead whispers to Betty as he blows out the candles.

Not willing to be a third-wheel or a seventh-wheel in this case, I just decide to converse with Ethel. Out of nowhere, the doorbell rang. "Everyone is here, right?" I ask. "Yeah, Betty says inner circle only," Kevin says.

I walked towards the door, and through the front door, Cheryl appears. "Do you really think you can have a party without inviting Moi?" Cheryl asks. Kevin side-eyes me. "I swear I didn't tell her," I said to him. "Or me," Chuck adds in. "I believe you." Kevin breathes out.

"Archie, where'd you want the kegs?" Moose asks as I saw him and Isaac holding kegs. After contemplating about it, he decides. "Screw it. One in the kitchen and one in the backyard." Archie says, causing everyone, but Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Kevin, Joaquin, Ethel, and I, to cheer.

Veronica, Kevin, Joaquin, and I are in a corner as we see the drunk teenagers all up on each other. "Why are they doing this?" Kevin asks. "They're agents of chaos, Kevin. They don't need a reason, but if I had to take a guess, payback." Veronica says, side-eying Cheryl.

I am outside, and I am sitting on one of the lawn chairs as I take a sip out of my water as I observe an aesthetic of a usual high school party; drunk teenagers ready to have sex. "Looks like you're having a fun time." I hear someone say, sarcastically. I look up and see an older man near me. Through the similarities, I can connect that he is Jughead's dad.

"I don't necessarily like the company of my peers intoxicated," I told him, emitting a chuckle from him. "You see Joaquin?" he asks. "Last time I check he might be inside with his boyfriend, Kevin," I told him. "Thanks for the intel, Paige," he says as he walks inside.

I'm just gonna ignore the fact that he knows my name.

After my interaction with Mr. Jones, I see Archie try to move in on Val, but she wasn't having it. When Archie tries again, that causes her to throw her drink at him. A few moments later, Cheryl came up to me.

"Paige, the beautiful fairy princess that you are, come come. We're about to play a game," she says as she grabbed me by the hand and dragged me back into the house and into the living room. Then I see her and Chuck block the entrance to the Andrews house.

"Listen up, party people. Everyone has their secrets, and we've all done our fair share of sinning, that's one thing my dear brother's death has revealed, so let's play a little game to get those secrets out in the open." Cheryl announced as she locks the door.

* * *

 **3rd POV:**

The game Cheryl has in mind is Secrets & Sins.

"What the hell is Secrets & Sins?" Jughead asks. "A little variation on Truth or Dare, which are only truths, by telling it like it is. I'll start the game with Veronica Lodge." Cheryl explains. "Naturally." the Latina scoffed out.

"Let's start on the day that you and your Mob Wife of a mother came to town for a so-called 'fresh start'. Tell us, Veronica, what's so fresh about defiling Archie Andrews in a closet?" Cheryl was asking. "That was _your_ doing." Veronica inputs in.

"Moving on to dear Daddy Lodge, isn't it true that your father, from prison, illegally purchased the Drive-In land…" Cheryl continued as Paige sends a worried glance to Jughead, knowing about how much he cared about the Drive-In. "...which makes me wonder what else is he doing from behind bars?" Cheryl continues to press on.

"Well, I can't speak for my father, but I can think of someone with a dirty secret; specifically, Cheryl killing her very own brother," Veronica says. "Everyone knows how much I loved my brother." Cheryl rebuffed, and Paige knows where this is going. "V, don't." she hissed, warning her about how deadly this can go.

"Exactly." Veronica continues, ignoring her pleas to not egg Cheryl on. "But do you love him in ways that a sister shouldn't love a brother? And as you got older, Jason began to think that it's...strange, unnatural, so he chose Polly over you, so you shot him between the eyes with one of your father's many hunting rifles." Veronica says. "This is riveting, I can't breathe," Kevin comments to Joaquin and Paige.

"This game is sick, I wanna go next," Dilton speaks up. "That's the spirit, Doiley. What secrets do you have to reveal to us?" Chuck asks, egging Dilton on. "I saw Ms. Grundy's car at Sweetwater River the day Jason went missing. I told Betty and Jughead, and then Ms. Grundy quit her job and left Riverdale, like two days later. And let's not forget that Archie was also at Sweetwater River that morning." Dilton confessed, basically ratting out Archie's affair with Ms. Grundy.

"Oh, my God. Color me shocked, Archie Andrews. Is that why you became a mediocre musician overnight? Because you and Ms. Four-Eyes were pulling a Mary Kay Letourneau?" Cheryl asks. "Don't say anything, Archie. Don't get in the gutter with them." Veronica advised.

"Wait, what? Andrews was banging a teacher? Well, damn. I wish I would've known. I would've added you and Ms. Grundy to the Book of Conquests." Chuck comments. "Why? So you guys have more evidence on why you all are a bunch of sleazy, misogynistic assholes? Yeah, that was discovered long before that book was even known to the whole school." Isaac spits out.

"Classy, Chuck. As always." Veronica comments. "Wait, a second. That also explains why Archie can't keep a girlfriend to save his life. He's got serious mommy issues. Anything to say for yourself, Arch? Were you a victim or a perpetrator?" Cheryl was prodding on. "Dilton Doiley plays with guns," Betty interjects to get the heat off of Archie. "Big whoop, Betty. So Doiley's a psychopath." Cheryl says.

"I might have a secret. And it's all about Little Miss Innocent herself. Paige Bauer." Reggie speaks up. "The hell are you on about, Mantle?" Isaac growls out, already getting protective of his sister. Cheryl is lowly glaring at Reggie.

To her, if she were to expose anyone, it's all fair, but when Paige gets involved, she crossed the line, meaning that she will raise hell on someone if someone were to verbally or physically attack Paige.

"Oh, brother dearest doesn't know. Of course, he wouldn't know about you fraternizing with South Side scum." Reggie says. Joaquin was clenching his fists as not only his gang members, but his family is getting demonized.

"Maybe it started on the day where a couple of the guys and I were putting those slimy snakes in their place when she kicked us out of Pop's. Not to mention her getting hot and heavy with one of them." Reggie says. Without anyone knowing, Paige slipped away from everyone. FP, who is distant from everyone, heard it all and decided to make a phone call to a certain someone.

The last thing Paige heard was, "Come on, I thought a Southsider has the knowledge to not be with a prude like her."

* * *

 **Paige's POV:**

I feel physically sick to my stomach. I can barely breathe. My vision is blurred through tears. My chest is clenched up. I feel like a total trainwreck.

As of this moment, I would rather be with those 'slimy snakes' than with the mangy bulldogs.

It felt like forever when I was leaned up against the side of the Andrews house and was non-stop sobbing. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked up to see who it is and it was Sweet Pea. Just by looking into his chocolate-brown eyes, I can feel myself calm down.

"FP told me about an incident at a party in the North Side." Sweet Pea said, looking concerned. "I don't wanna be here. Take me away from here." I breathed out as Sweet Pea is now leading me towards his motorcycle. I get on the back of his motorcycle, with no hesitation, as Sweet Pea rides away from the neighborhood.

We arrive at Sunnyside Trailer Park and arrive at a trailer, who I believe is Sweet Pea's trailer. "Well, home sweet home," he says as we enter his trailer. "I know it's not much…" he started but I cut him off. "I don't care. It's perfect." I say to him as I turn around to face him.

It was silent for a moment of time and before I knew it, our lips connected. What I am feeling with Sweet Pea is nothing compared with Reggie. With Sweet Pea, it is like I am destined to be with him. The atmosphere around us didn't exist because all I can feel is him. With Sweet Pea, everyone else doesn't exist. The only ones being left in this world are us.

I could feel myself being picked up by his strong arms and I could feel a soft mattress on my back. While being intoxicated by his lips, I can feel his hands on my thighs. I put my hands on his hands and took them off my thighs and disconnect my lips from his.

"Is everything alright? Are you hurt?" he frantically asks. "I'm fine. It's just...can you stay with me for the night?" I ask him. I rest my head on his chest, his heartbeat lulling me to sleep.

The next morning, I could feel someone shaking me. "Paige. I gotta send you home," he says. "No," I whined as I unconsciously grab his hand put it to my cheek. Sweet Pea chuckles as he strokes his thumb on my cheek. "You're too cute, Princess. But I really need to send you home," he says. "Fine," I say as I sat up and pouted. "Believe me, I hate it as much as you do," he says as he drags his thumb down my lower lip, and that causes me to lightly smile. "There's that beautiful smile," he says with a beaming smile.

* * *

 **3rd POV:**

While Paige and Sweet Pea were walking towards his motorcycle, hand-in-hand, FP, who lives in the trailer not far from Sweet Pea's, has a small smirk on his face as what he was seeing was deja vu to him.

What is happening between Paige and Sweet Pea was the same thing that happened between Chris Bauer and Vivienne Castle.


	11. To Riverdale and Back Again

**REVIEW TIMEE!1**

 **channingsandoval: thanks :)**

* * *

 **3rd POV:**

' _ **People like to say that the death of Jason Blossom changed everything in Riverdale High, certain things and certain traditions never change.**_

 _ **Take Homecoming, for instance.**_

 _ **Though, Jason's jersey has been retired, the Riverdale Bulldogs will still be playing their rivals, the Baxter High Ravens, with the River Vixens cheering them on.**_

 _ **As in previous years, graduates from days in Riverdale's past will come to town to live their more youthful and carefree days, or make up for lost time.'**_

* * *

 **PAIGE'S POV:**

There is no doubt in mind that there is pressure within the Bauer family. My mom is trying to avoid her judgmental parents, like she has done ever since her and my dad ran off together and this week is homecoming and because of the upcoming game against the Baxter High Ravens, Isaac has been focusing on football and academics so he can attend the Homecoming game.

I was getting my stuff for French and then I got an incoming phone call from Ember.

"Hey, Em."

" _I know what happened last night."_ I hear, causing me to get confused.

"What're you talking about?" I asked.

" _I know that you spent the night at Sweet Pea's."_ she says. I completely forgot that I crashed over at Sweet Pea's after that embarrassing game of Secrets & Sins.

"Look, Em…" I was about to say.

" _Don't stress about it, P. Your secret is safe with me."_ she says as she hangs up. I furrowed my eyebrows at the call.

For lunch, I sat by Betty, Archie, Veronica, Jughead, and Kevin, when Cheryl appeared near us. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have an announcement to make, one that potentially involves you, Betty." Cheryl started. "I'm bringing Polly to the dance as my date and we're campaigning as co-queens of Homecoming Court." she explains.

"Because why?" Betty asks. "Because, Nightmare Smurfette, by all rights it should've been Polly and Jason on that stage being crowned this is the next best thing, so don't forget to vote and I'll see everyone at my coronation." Cheryl says as she walks away.

"Betty, about the Homecoming dance, can I play a couple songs? I told my mom that I would…" Archie was about to ask, but then looked at the look that was etched on Betty's face. "Woah, you don't want me to?" Archie asks. "No, no, it's not that, Archie. It's just that...this dance needs to be fun, and your songs, as amazing as they are…" Betty started. "They make you want to slit your wrists." Jughead says, morbidly. He realizes all of our surprised looks at his bluntness. "In a good way." he covers up.

"In an amazing way." Veronica covers up before turning to Betty. "No need to fret, Betty, because Archie asked me to sing with him and we're planning on doing some upbeat covers." Veronica says. "We are?" Archie asks, now letting me realize that Veronica didn't ask Archie. "Aren't we?" she asks.

A little while later, I got an unknown caller calling me. I didn't know what compelled me to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" I say.

" _So it's Homecoming over on the North Side, huh?"_ I hear a familiar voice.

"Sweet Pea?" I ask, breathlessly.

" _You know the teachers at South Side High won't give a shit if students ditch class."_ I hear him say. I walk into an abandoned classroom, so I can talk to him privately.

"Is this you asking me to Homecoming to my school?" I ask him.

" _What else did you want it to be, princess?"_ he asks.

"O-Okay. I-I-I'll go with you." I stuttered out. "I can ask Ember if she can give me a lift to your trailer." I continued.

" _Sounds good to me."_ I hear him say as he hangs up on me.

Later on that night, I was getting ready for the Homecoming dance. I had let Ember know that she needs to drop me off at Sweet Pea's trailer. I was about to leave my room and then Isaac was at the door frame, making me squeak out in surprise. "My goodness, Isaac, you scared me." I said while putting a hand on my racing heart.

"You're off to see that Serpent boyfriend of yours. Aren't you?" he asks. "We are not dating." I hissed. "Hey, as long as you're happy, I approve. Just be thankful that mom and dad are out of town for tonight. You know how mom is around Homecoming week." Isaac says. "Thank you, Isaac." I said, but as soon as I was walking down the stairs and Isaac stops me again.

"Hey, I also saw Ember around the corner of the house. H-How is she?" he asks, causing me to stiffen. Between Ember and Isaac, they have a complicated past that I would rather not explain because within the end, I had to choose between my best friend and my brother. I was lucky enough to be the peacemaker between the two. "Fine." I said curtly, as I left the house towards Ember's motorcycle.

"Right on cue, Paige." she says as I got into her blue 1987 Chevrolet Camaro and she drove off towards Sunnyside Trailer Park.

* * *

 **3RD POV:**

After getting the text from Alice Cooper, Veronica Lodge and Archie Andrews left the Jones trailer, with zero proof of FP being connected to either being Jason Blossom's murder or being in cahoots with Hiram Lodge. While they were leaving the trailer, they heard a rumble of a car. They quickly hid behind the trailer, but peered behind to see what is going on.

They found Paige with a ebony skinned girl with aqua blue hair, stylized in dreadlocks, and wearing a South Side Serpents jacket. They walked out of her blue Camaro and Paige was going towards a nearby trailer. Even though Veronica doesn't know who it is, Archie does.

"Ember?" he asks in familiarity, quietly. "I'm sorry, who is Ember?" Veronica asks. "Paige's best friend." Archie replied. "You better use protection. I don't want a mini Paige running around anytime soon!" Ember exclaimed at Paige, causing her to giggle, as Ember drove off.

The door to the nearby trailer reveals a tall boy, who loomed over Paige by at least a foot. His black collared shirt rolled up to his elbows and it goes with his black slacks and black leather boots.

What shocked Archie and Veronica the most is how happy Paige looked to be around the tall Serpent.

* * *

 **PAIGE POV:**

"You ready to go, princess?" Sweet Pea asks me, causing me to blush and nod as he lifted me up to help me into his truck. I couldn't think about anything but happy thoughts about Sweet Pea throughout the whole ride.

We waited until almost everyone was situated at Homecoming. We decide to sneak into Riverdale High and get into one of the classrooms. "Sorry if this isn't ideal. It's just that if I have to deal with those mangy mutts…" Sweet Pea was about to say. "I would take this over a crowded gym." I told him.

A cover of _Clarity_ was playing as he reached out for my hand, and twirled me around before we slow dance to the beat of the song, my head against his beating heart and his head on top of mine. When the song was over and about to play the next one, I heard arguing within the distance. Scrunching up my eyebrows in curiosity, I cracked open the door to hear what's going on.

"My dad just told Mayor McCoy about your dad, Jughead." I heard Kevin say. "What about my dad?" Jughead asks. "He was just arrested for the murder of Jason Blossom." I hear Mr. Andrews say. Knowing how Mr. Jones was important to the Serpents, I turned to Sweet Pea.

"Sweets…" I say, reaching out to him. "I should get going. They probably need me at the Whyte Wyrm." he says, curtly, as he left through the window and I can feel a sense of sorrow within his tone.


	12. Anatomy of a Murder

**REVIEW TIMEE!1**

 **Guest: Thank you for being patient. Sorry it took me too long**

* * *

Ever since Mr. Jones got arrested for Jason's murder, I haven't heard from either Sweet Pea nor Ember. Then yet again, who can blame them? I certainly can't blame them.

I walked downstairs and I could hear my mom and dad in a heated discussion. "I've known that guy for a long time, Viv. I know he is not capable of murder." I hear my dad say to my mom.

"How long has it been since you've spoken to FP Jones?" my mom argues back. With that, my dad went silent and the both of them noticed me.

"Hey, sweetie." my mom says as she kisses my forehead. "Is everything okay?" I ask them. "Everything's fine. Isaac left with his friend, Moose. You should get going, too." my dad says. I give them a suspicious look before I left the house to walk to school.

The day went by quicker than usual, then the next thing I knew, it is now lunch. I walked into the cafeteria with Kevin and I saw random peers comforting Cheryl. "It's surreal, isn't it?" Kevin asks as he sat by Betty and I sat by Veronica.

"How's Jughead doing?" I ask Betty. "Not good." she replies. "He's not coming in today. He's at the station." Archie says. "Getting grilled by your dad." Veronica pointedly adds to Kevin. "Who's just doing his job." Kevin defends.

"I mean, of course he's gonna ask Jughead questions." Kevin adds in. "Okay, well, he's wasting his time, Kev. Because FP didn't kill Jason." Betty says. I give Betty a look that says that I believe her.

"Betty, he confessed." Kevin says. "Or he was coerced. Or he's protecting someone, maybe a Serpent." Betty responds back. "He might've been blackmailed." I add in, agreeing with Betty, who points at me in agreement.

"My mom saw him and Joaquin together." Betty adds in, causing me to furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

I don't think Joaquin has ever met Jason.

"Don't! Do not drag my boyfriend into this." Kevin says, defensively. I look over at Archie, who's eyes widened at something. I followed the direction his eyes were and I saw Jughead walking in.

"Oh, no." Archie says, softly, as all of the attention is now on Jughead. "What happened to him not coming in today?" I hear Veronica ask Archie.

I turned in my seat, ready to stand up to pull Cheryl off of Jughead, because I fully know well that Cheryl was going to attack him.

"I'm sorry, Cheryl." Jughead says, trying to hold back tears and from what I am hearing, he already cried all the tears he could the previous day.

As I expected, Cheryl slapped Jughead and hit his chest, repeatedly. I fastly walked over towards the two and I pulled Cheryl off. "Enough!" I hear Principal Weatherbee exclaim as Cheryl is sobbing in my shoulder for a brief period in time. I look over at Jughead to give him an apologetic look as Cheryl is now storming away from me.

"Mr. Jones, you need to come with me. Right now." Principal Weatherbee says.

"He was only apologizing. He didn't do anything wrong." I was telling him. All I got was him ignoring me as he is escorting Jughead out of the cafeteria.

Later that night, my phone ringing woke me up from my slumber. I blindly grabbed my phone from the nightstand and answered it.

"Hello." I groggily say.

" _You won't believe what I just heard."_ I hear Veronica on the other side.

"What's going on?" I say, slowly rising from my bed.

" _FP used his one phonecall to Joaquin."_ Veronica says, and that just confused, but at the same time makes sense.

How I was confused; I thought that he would use the phone call towards Jughead or a lawyer.

How it was making sense; from what Betty said about her mom seeing FP and Joaquin.

" _Just get to Archie's."_ Veronica says.

"On my way." I say as I hung up on her. I just slipped on my converse as I heard Loki meow.

"Not a word." I say to him before kissing him on the head as I snuck out of my house through the window.

I arrive at Archie's just in time for Archie, Veronica, and Kevin to start interrogating Joaquin.

"We know FP used his call from jail to get in touch with you. What did he say?" Archie asks.

"It was basically just a warning. Said to lay low." Joaquin says.

"No one uses their one call to say "lay low."." Veronica says. "Joaquin, do you know something? I'm not talking to you as your boyfriend, I'm talking to you as the sheriff's son." Kevin asks.

"Did FP kill Jason?" I ask Joaquin, softly. After a while, he responds, "Yeah."

There was something about the way he said it that doesn't make me convinced that FP murdered Jason.

"I mean, I...I assume." he adds in. "Oh, my God." Kevin says, exasperatedly.

"Did you see him pull the trigger?" Veronica says, to which he said no. "Then why do you think he did it?" Archie asks.

"On July 11th, I got a phone call in the middle of the night from FP. Said he needed help with some clean-up job at the Whyte Wyrm." Joaquin was explaining.

"What job?" Kevin asks, getting hurt by the moment.

"The basement of the Whyte Wyrm is off limits to everyone. That's where I met FP, and that's where I saw…" Joaquin says, trailing off, letting us fill in the blank.

"He'd been shot. I never asked FP if he did it. I just, I mean, I was terrified. I...I just assumed. We stashed the body in the freezer, cleaned up the mess, got rid of any evidence." Joaquin continues to explain.

"You are a criminal." Kevin says. I put a comforting hand on Kevin's shoulder.

"Joaquin, FP has done jobs for my dad, Hiram Lodge, in the past. Do you think killing Jason was one of them?" Veronica asks.

"There was one time I overheard a conversation between FP and Mustang." Joaquin says. "Who's Mustang?" I ask. "He's another Serpent. The only other guy who knew about the clean-up." he answered before turning to Archie. "The guy you got into a fight at the Wyrm."

"I heard him tell FP something about some rich guy. I don't know who." Joaquin explains. "Would you know where Mustang is?" I ask him, to which he says no. "You do not want to go see him." Joaquin says.

"Yes, I do. And you're going to take us. Or…" Veronica was about to say, but was cut off by a hurt Kevin. "Or I'm going to tell my dad about your little clean-up job."

After Kevin threatened to tell Sheriff Keller about the clean-up job, Joaquin complied and took us where Mustang is staying at.

We stopped at a door, to which Joaquin knocked on. He opened the door, which was surprisingly unlocked.

"Mustang? You here?" he was asking. With heavy caution, we follow Joaquin into the dingy apartment.

We were searching the vicinity, then I hear Archie say, "Oh, my God."

All of us walk over to where Archie was at and that is where we saw Mustang dead in the bathtub.

"I can't be here. Let's go." Joaquin says as he pulls Kevin out of the apartment. "Call my dad." Kevin says as I follow the two out.

A little while later, Kevin was saying goodbye to Joaquin and I wanted to leave the two of them alone so they can say goodbye. Sometime later, he was walking towards me, where I was sitting on the bench waiting for him.

"What is it, Kev?" I ask. "We need to call everyone, Archie, Betty, Jughead, Veronica. Everyone." he tells me. I just nod and we call everyone up.

After Kevin, Betty, and Jughead went investigating. I explained to Archie and Veronica what Joaquin told Kevin, that whatever they were looking for it would either help FP or make things worse and that their plan was some sort of contingency and too dangerous.

Kevin, Betty, and Jughead arrive back to Archie's house, where they have Jason's letterman jacket.

" _This_ is meant to help FP?" Archie asks. "I don't know. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me" Kevin replies back. "Yeah, this just confirms that my dad torched Jason's getaway car." Jughead adds in. "And that his confession was true." Kevin adds to Betty.

"But why would FP say that Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous?" I ask him. "What could that mean?" Betty asks, bouncing off of my question.

"I can ask my father. He would know, considering that we found concrete proof that he hired the Serpents to kill Jason. Which probably means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead." Veronica says.

"No. I'm not giving up yet." Betty says. "Betty's right." I say, agreeing with Betty. "Check the pockets. Maybe there's something in the pockets." I tell her. She puts the jacket on Archie and she checks the pockets. After some digging around, she found a flashdrive. "Nancy Drew strikes again." Kevin muses out.

We plugged the flash drive into Archie's laptop where everything is now coming together and the horrifying truth is out.

At that moment, I knew that I have to call Cheryl.

" _Hello, beautiful fairy. I haven't…"_ she was about to say, but I cut her off.

"Cheryl, you need to listen to everything I say. You have to get out of that house." I was telling her.

" _Paige, you're scaring me."_ she says.

"FP didn't kill Jason. Your dad did it. He killed Jason."

" _I understand. Thank you."_ Cheryl responded, emotion void from her tone as she hung up.

After discovering the horrifying truth, I returned home where my parents and my brother were gathered in the living room.

My mom looked over at me, worry etched onto her beautiful face.

"Paige, honey, what is it?" she asks. That is when I couldn't hold it in anymore. I crumbled to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably with my mom, my dad, and Isaac rushing over to comfort me.

* * *

 **3RD POV:**

 _ **That night, Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoy saw what we watched in Archie's garage; Jason, tied to a chair, in the basement of a bar, on the South Side of Riverdale, while a Serpent, Mustang, taunted him.**_

 _ **Then, the unthinkable.**_

 _ **Later, we would learn why my father confessed. Because Clifford Blossom visited him on the night of his arrest, with a threat; that I, Jughead Jones, would suffer the same fate as Jason Blossom, if my father didn't confess.**_

 _ **My dad was protecting me from a monster, and the nightmare was far from over. And our families, far from repaired.**_

 _ **And though one question had been answered that night, that it was Clifford Blossom who killed Jason, a new mystery loomed over Riverdale.**_

 _ **Why had he done it?**_

 _ **It was a question only Clifford himself would be able to answer.**_


End file.
